'Catalyst for the industry': Stakeholders on U.S. Bitcoin decision

Cryptocurrency stakeholders say a pending decision in the U.S. regarding Bitcoin investments would open the doors to more traditional investors.

Wednesday marks the deadline for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to decide whether to approve a series of spot Bitcoin ETF applications, which would allow investors to have exposure to Bitcoin, without actually owning the currency.

Dean Skurka, president and CEO of WonderFi, the parent company of crypto trading platforms Bitbuy, Coinsquare and SmartPay, said the changes would open crypto investments to a wider array of investors, including those without access to the products or those with skepticism.

“We think this is a really important catalyst for the industry to continue to move forward, to continue to gain credibility with a broader audience and we still think that long-term platforms like ours will continue to see increased growth in activity,” he told BNN Bloomberg in a television on Wednesday.

“I think with these products, what you'll see is new participants coming to the market that otherwise wouldn't have felt comfortable or in many cases wouldn't have been able to participate in the industry prior to sovereign funds. These are the types of new participants that, with a product like the Blackrock ETF, can actually start to get exposure and offer exposure to their clients.”

While Skurka believes the proposed changes will be transformative for the industry, he doesn’t expect it to impact the exchange market, which WonderFi is actively involved in. 

“The segment of participants that is going to be looking for exposure through these ETFs is, for the large part, different than those that participate in our platforms,” he said. “We don't expect fees to be impacted on our platforms as a result of these products rolling out.”

Matthew Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management, has an ETF application before the SEC and believes prices could climb as more people have access to Bitcoin exposure.

“We know there are new investors that haven't been able to access Bitcoin before that are going to access it,” he said. 

“More demand, less supply tends to be pretty constructive for Bitcoin's price. It's not a guarantee. I expect it to be volatile, but I'm very optimistic about where Bitcoin goes over the next year, two years, five years and decade.”

FALSE START

Hougan said his firm went through an “emotional roller coaster” on Tuesday, when the SEC posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the spot Bitcoin ETF applications had been approved, only to be notified minutes later that the SEC account had been compromised and that a decision was not yet made.

“The lesson from that is that U.S. government agencies need to put in place two-factor authentication,” he joked.

“Ultimately, it doesn't change the legal or regulatory process that we're working towards getting an ETF.”