SEC Chief: You're 'Sorely Mistaken' if You Think Bitcoin's All Grown Up

U.S. Securities and Exchange Chairman Jay Clayton just delivered a rebuke to cryptocurrency backers, alleging that Bitcoin is unlikely to trade on a major US exchange until it"s much better regulated. Crypto"s Not Ready for Prime-Time

The chairman of the independent agency of the United States federal government stated in his opening speech at Delivering Alpha: “If [investors] think there’s the same rigor around that price discovery as there is on the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange ... they are sorely mistaken. We have to get to a place where we can be confident that trading is better regulated.” Jay Clayton said Bitcoin trading isn"t sufficiently regulated. | Source:  SeaRick1/Shutterstock.com

This is not the first time Clayton has echoed such sentiment. In November of last year, the SEC chairman revealed his concerns about Bitcoin price manipulation, stating: “An even harder question given that they trade on largely unregulated exchanges is how can we be sure that those prices aren’t subject to significant manipulation? … People needed to answer these hard questions for us to be comfortable that this was the appropriate kind of product.”

Bitcoin ETF Withdrawal

Clayton"s statements come after CBOE withdrew its application to list the VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) — which all but pulls the plug on any hopes for a cryptocurrency ETF in the near future.

As of the time of writing, the price of Bitcoin had not reacted to Clayton"s statements. It is currently trading at $9,869 on Kraken after failing to hold the $10,000 level earlier this morning. This article was edited by Josiah Wilmoth.