The SEC has delayed a decision on another bitcoin ETF, putting off approval of a fund from WisdomTree

<p><img src="https://static1.businessinsider.com/image/60ef3f5a61b8600019f171e9-2400/GettyImages-145009756.jpg" border="0" alt="Gary Gensler, SEC Chairman, financial regulator, alone, testifying" data-mce-source="Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="Gary Gensler's SEC has increased its focus on cryptocurrencies."></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>The SEC on Tuesday delayed WisdomTree's application for a bitcoin ETF, adding to a <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/bitcoin-ethereum-etf-sec-gary-gensler-regulation-crypto-2021-07">pile-up of applications sitting on the agency's docket</a>.</p><p>In an <a href="https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/cboebzx/2021/34-92392.pdf">order</a> putting off approval, the SEC called for public comment on a number of concerns, including whether the bitcoin market is subject to manipulation. The agency similarly asked for public comment in June.</p><p>"There's nothing [in the SEC's order] that we're not saying ourselves as an ETF issuer," Ryan Louvar, general counsel at WisdomTree, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/bitcoin-ethereum-etf-sec-gary-gensler-regulation-crypto-2021-07">told Insider previously</a>. "Bitcoin is volatile. It's a speculative asset."</p><p>But the SEC now may be warming up to the view, expressed by many bitcoin fund applicants, that not approving a regulated ETF could present its own risks. In Tuesday's filingsas in previous onesthe agency asked for comment on whether "manipulation concernsare outweighed by quantifiable investor protection issues."</p><p>"I was encouraged by that step, that the SEC is at least taking incremental steps here," said Louvar.</p><p>SEC Chair Gary Gensler has worried aloud that the bitcoin market, as currently structured, offers no real investor protections or any way to prevent manipulation. That has made <a href="https://twitter.com/RonwHammond/status/1414616171782017030">some</a> in the crypto industry bearish on the prospects for ETF approval this year.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-crypto-staking-kraken-product-chief-rewards-tokens-risks-2021-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crypto traders have staked billions of dollars on Kraken over the last year to earn interest. The exchange's product chief explains what staking is, and shares 3 of the top-yielding tokens on its platform.</a></em></p><p><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/bitcoin-etf-approval-delayed-wisdomtree-gary-gensler-sec-2021-07#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wasabi-expensive-sushi-what-is-wasabi-paste-plant-2019-1">Why wasabi is so expensive</a></p>
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