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Washington, D.C. – Today, Majority Whip Tom Emmer (MN-06) and Representative French Hill (AR-02) sent a letter to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler regarding Chair Gensler’s regulatory hypocrisy and inconsistency in his treatment of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETP) applications.

Over the last decade, over twenty spot bitcoin ETP applications have been filed with the SEC, but none have been approved. Chair Gensler has denied all bitcoin spot ETP applications in the United States, citing concerns over fraud and manipulation in the market. Chair Gensler, however, has authorized bitcoin futures ETPs to trade, even though the pricing for those futures contracts is derived entirely from the same market he claims is fraught with fraud and manipulation. 

“The SEC’s approach to cryptocurrency regulation has been unacceptable,” said Emmer. “Chair Gensler has exhibited regulatory inconsistency between his treatment of bitcoin futures ETPs, which he has allowed to trade in the United States, and bitcoin spot ETPs, which he continually denies the American people from accessing. The SEC must provide consistency of treatment to the marketplace and retail investors in the United States are worse off because of the Chair’s decision to deny all bitcoin spot ETP applications. We look forward to the SEC’s response to our concerns.”

Hill said, “The reasoning behind the SEC’s continued refusal to approve a spot bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs) appears to be inconsistent and doesn’t take into account what we know from other jurisdictions where regulators have approved similar products. We look forward to Chair Gensler’s appearance before the Financial Services Committee today and his response to our letter.”

Both Emmer and Hill serve as members of the House Financial Services Committee.

Text of the letter is available here.

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