The SEC has not been enthusiastic about Bitcoin ETFs. On another recent application (VanEck):
>Bitcoin ETF is “absolutely not” going to be approved by the SEC, says CSO of CoinShares
> The whole cryptocurrency market has been eagerly waiting for the approval of a Bitcoin ETF by the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission [SEC]. The reason the exchange-traded product is of much importance to the community is that it is considered as the gateway to drive the institutional investors into the space.
Direct link to ETF research PDF linked from the thread:
https://www.sec.gov/comments/sr-nysearca-2019-01/srnysearca2...
Interesting things to see in the hundreds of pages:
page 24: What Do Real Exchanges Look Like?
page 43: Trade Size Histograms For Suspect Exchanges
page 57: Applying All Three Analyses: BitForex
page 111: We Have Reached The Point Of Diminishing Returns For Improvements In Efficiency