Bitwise Withdraws Long-Standing Bitcoin ETF Application

A Jan. 14 form with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission confirms that Bitwise Asset Management requested the withdrawal of its application for a Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund.

This is the second major ETF withdrawal in recent months following similar actions by VanEck.

Bitwise applied for ETF registration in January 2019.

In March of the same year, it had released the Bitwise Report on exchange volume, claiming that 95% of trading volume is fabricated.

The finding was used by the company as an argument for the SEC to accept the ETF. By disregarding the majority of the exchange volume, the firm maintained that price formation for BTC occurred mostly on regulated exchanges.

It is unclear why Bitwise decided to withdraw the ETF right now.

An ETF is a stock-like fund tracking a particular asset or index of assets.

A Bitcoin ETF would thus enable institutional and retail investors alike to gain direct exposure to the currency - while trading within the bounds of regulated traditional exchanges.

There were many historic attempts at registering a Bitcoin ETF, but they were always rejected by the SEC. Their primary concerns remain those of difficult custody and the potential for market manipulation.

The regulator is set to rule on another ETF proposal by Wilshire Phoenix by February 2020.