Money Will Flood Into Bitcoin When An ETF Is Approved, Says Ex-NYSE President

The former president of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is bullish on a Bitcoin ETF, claiming that money will “flood into the industry” when such a product is approved in the United States.

Now serving as CEO of crypto trading platform Bullish, Tom Farley argued on Tuesday that Bitcoin is a legitimate “store of value,” despite its volatility.

Getting A Bitcoin ETF Approved

In an interview with CNBC, Farley highlighted how Bitcoin is the only crypto asset universally recognized as a non-security among U.S. regulators – a fact that could make regulators more willing to approve an ETF for the asset.

“Money will flood into the industry with a Bitcoin ETF, it’s just easy to buy it,” said Farley. “People believe in Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a great invention.”

Roughly a dozen asset managers including BlackRock, Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton are racing to be the first to launch a Bitcoin spot ETF in the United States. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is yet to approve one, but recent discussions with the agency show that applicants are making steady progress.

The SEC’s final deadline to approve or deny one of the applications – the Ark/21Shares Bitcoin ETF – is on January 10, by which some bulls believe ETF approval is nearly guaranteed. Others think an Ethereum spot ETF could be approved shortly afterward, as BlackRock and others have recently submitted filings for.

Farley, however, said he is less optimistic on the “immediacy of an approval” in November or December compared to other crypto bulls, due to the SEC’s hardline stance on non-Bitcoin cryptos likely being securities.

“Securities, at least in the United States, need to trade on a nationally recognized exchange,” he explained.”They do not today, and I think these two issues at the moment are interwoven.”

NYSE President’s Crypto Exchange

Farley said that his crypto exchange, Bullish, offers trading for just 25 “compliant” coins, and is focused on regulatory oversight and approval – unlike its rivals.

“Most of the legacy exchanges are caught up in criminal investigations, massive civil investigations, and are in a state of non-compliance,” he said. “The winning exchanges are gonna be trusted, they’re gonna be compliant.”

Major crypto exchanges including Binance and Coinbase are currently facing lawsuits from the SEC for operating as unregistered securities exchanges, with numerous tokens trading on each platform allegedly qualifying as investment contracts.