US SEC questions prospects of bitcoin ETFS
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has questioned the prospects of bitcoin exchange-traded funds saying there are a significant number of investor protection issues about cryptocurrencies and related products that need to be examined.
The issues need to be addressed before sponsors begin offering these funds to retail investors, the SEC said in a letter on Thursday to two trade groups.
“We have asked sponsors that have registration statements filed for such products to withdraw them,” the SEC said.
The SEC said it has questions concerning how funds holding substantial amounts of cryptocurrencies and related products would satisfy the requirements of the 1940 Act and its rules.
Acknowledging criticism on transparency, valuation and underlying assets, the SEC questioned the ability of cryptocurrency funds to comply with federal regulations for product offerings issued by investment companies in the public market.
The SEC raised doubts about the capacity of funds to arrive at a “fair value” for cryptocurrency-related products and questioned about steps required to be taken to assure sufficiently liquid assets to meet redemptions daily.
Apple Inc. will release a software update that will allow users to turn off a feature that slows down iphones when batteries are low on charge, Chief Executive Tim Cook told ABC News.
Apple will release a test version of its IOS software next month that shows users the health of their batteries and will let them turn off a phone-slowing feature meant to prevent sudden shutdowns in iphones with older batteries, Cook said in an interview with ABC News on Wednesday.
Cook said the phone-slowing software, released last year, was intended to make sure that iphone users did not get cut off in the middle of an important call or text message because of an old battery.
“We will tell somebody we are reducing your performance by some amount in order to not have an unexpected restart, and if you don’t want it, you can turn it off,” Cook said. “We don’t recommend it because we think that people’s iphones are really important to them and you can never tell when something is so urgent. Our actions were all in service of the user.”
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment beyond Cook’s remarks or say when the update would be available to consumers.
Apple confirmed on December 20 that software in iphone 6, iphone 6s and iphone SE models to deal with dangers from aging batteries could slow down the phone’s performance. Within days, Apple faced lawsuits over the phone slowing.
The issue struck a nerve on social media, where many voiced a theory that Apple intentionally slows down older phones to encourage customers to buy new ones. No credible evidence has emerged that Apple has ever done so. On December 28, Apple issued a public apology to customers over the battery issue and said it has never purposely shortened the life of its products.
Apple also lowered the price of battery replacements for affected models from US $ 79 to US $ 29. The lower price could prod many consumers to replace their battery instead of buying a new phone, which in turn could lead to lower iphone sales for 2018, Barclays analysts said in a note earlier this month.