According to Ernst & Young (EY) global blockchain leader Paul Brody, Spot Bitcoin ETF approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could bring an influx of institutional investment interest to the sector. Indeed, Brody spoke to CNBC regarding the transformative reality that the industry could face following the arrival of the investment product.
The increase in interest would be a stark contrast to the response of institutional trading within the industry this year. Specifically, Chainalysis reports that institution trading volume fell massively in April 2023. Specifically, the firm stated that the decline in transactions was more than $10 million following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate.
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Institutional Investment to Surge After Bitcoin ETF Approval?
For much of this year, the crypto industry has closely observed the potential arrival of the United States’ first-ever spot Bitcoin ETF. Following applications from asset management firms like Fidelity and BlackRock, the presence of an exchange-traded fund appears to be a matter of time.
Subsequently, the expectation of approval has increased. Everyone from Mike Novogratz to Coinbase has predicted its arrival by the end of the year. Now, EY blockchain leader Paul Brody has stated that a Bitcoin ETF approval should raise institutional investment interest.
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“Speaking to CNBC, Brody emphasized the potential reaction to an approval. “But any of these other institutional funds, they can’t touch this stuff unless it’s an ETF or some other kind of regulatory blessed activity,” Brody told CNBC.
“If you look at people who are buying Bitcoin, they are buying it as an asset. They are not buying it as a payment tool,” he stated. “Those who are buying Ethereum are buying it as a computing platform for business transactions and DeFi services.”
Subsequently, Brody has confirmed that the introduction of a regulatory compliance exchange-traded fund would change the game for the asset. Conversely, the presence of investment firms like Grayscale and BlackRock had already begun to make good on that prediction.