No ETFs, No problem; SEC took a shine to institutional crypto

How regulators see Bitcoin is more important than how the market sees it.

With Bitcoin surging by over 250 percent last year, one of the busiest parties in the market were the regulators, particularly the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC].

Unlike the previous year where regulators acted like bouncers, throwing out scam token-issuers and defining who could and couldn’t enter the ICO party, this year saw the SEC act as referees, adding on extra-time but eventually blowing the whistle on the institutional rush into the crypto-market.

Cryptocurrency-wise, the regulators dealt with ICOs and institutions. The former has already been elaborated upon here.

It was evident that institutional interest would dominate the market in 2019 for two reasons. Firstly, analysts pointed to a price increase 12-15 months prior to a scheduled block halving, with a price rise expected to bring in the big-boys with their big-bucks. Secondly, the previous year saw several institutions setup shop with the intention to launch in 2019.

Many industry players were looking at the SEC over other price-influencers, particularly with so many institutions signaling interest. Fabian Wahle, Chief of Compliance at NASH, told AMBCrypto that regulators will keep a close eye on the market,

“Crypto regulations will have a huge effect on the future of the space, so it is positive that the SEC is beginning to take crypto more seriously and grappling with the implications of decentralization.”

Fidelity Investments was the first big-name on the scene. In October 2018, the investment giant announced a separate division dedicated to cryptocurrency trade-execution and custody, with Fidelity Digital Assets meant specifically for institutional investors. This came a few months after it was rumored that Goldman Sachs was looking to set-up a trading desk for cryptocurrencies, a rumor which did not come about.

The next sign that institutions were looking to dive into crypto-trading came in the form of Bakkt. The digital assets platform by the Intercontinental Exchange [ICE], parent company to the NYSE, announced in August 2018 Bakkt, which “intends to leverage Microsoft cloud solutions to create an open and regulated, global ecosystem for digital assets.”