The SEC Has a New Exchange Traded Fund Application to Review

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has posted a new proposal from Crescent Crypto Index Services, a subsidiary of Crescent Asset Management, for the launch of a crypto-backed exchange-traded fund (ETF).

According to the application, the company, which is based in New Jersey, will be looking to monitor the performance of a portfolio of ether (ETH) and bitcoin (BTC). The fund has been named the “USCF Crescent Crypto Index Fund” with “XBET” being its proposed ticker.

It will also be sponsored by United States Commodity Funds LLC, a commodity pool operator which, according to the filing, is under regulatory oversight from both the National Futures Association and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The new ETF proposal joins the list of proposals being reviewed by the SEC, including the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Trust, an ETF proposal filed jointly by Bitwise Asset Management and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Arca, and the VanEck SolidX proposal that has yet to be approved since it was first filed in 2018.

The fact that there are three separate ETF proposals is an encouraging sign for crypto investors, even though the SEC has yet to approve any of them. But in the last two years, numerous companies have failed in their bids to secure ETF approval, including the Winklevoss-owned Gemini Trust, ProShares and Direxion. Some other companies have also had to withdraw their proposals after several delays from the regulator.

Among other rationale, the SEC’s stated reasons for denying these proposals rest on concerns over market manipulation and insufficient investor protection.