The New York Stock Exchange just announced to its 1.6 million followers on Twitter that the most popular episode from its parent company’s podcast was about Bitcoin.
Intercontinental Exchange, which operates 12 regulated exchanges and marketplaces, including the NYSE, aired the 29-minute episode entitled “SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce Leans In on Bitcoin Innovation” on August 29, 2019. It was this year’s most downloaded episode of their series.
Commissioner Peirce, dubbed ‘Crypto Mom’ by Bitcoiners and members of the crypto community, has been a champion of the technology and a supporter of digital assets. In 2018, when the Securities and Exchange Commission rejected a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund proposal from Cameron and Ty Winklevoss, the founders of crypto trading platform Gemini, Peirce issued a detailed dissent in which she questioned the motivations of the decision.
She wrote,
“As long as these investors decline to enter the bitcoin market because there is no efficient vehicle that would reduce the costs of entry, the features of the bitcoin market that cause the Commission concern are likely to persist.”
In ICE’s Bitcoin episode, Peirce spoke with Brookly McLaughlin, the company’s senior director of corporate affairs and sustainability, at Bakkt’s Digital Asset Conference about how BTC and other digital assets can align with the Commission’s goals of fostering innovation within the confines of regulated markets.
Peirce says cryptocurrency is just one asset class and that the SEC is focused on a much broader scope. Given time and resources, she hopes the crypto community will temper expectations. That said, she says she finds Bitcoin and the emerging technology to be interesting.
“I wanted to see [at the SEC] a much more open attitude toward innovation paired with a very clear message to investors that just because we let something trade in markets doesn’t mean we’re telling you it’s a good idea for anyone, let alone you. So be skeptical, ask your own questions. We’ll get you the information you need to make decisions, but you’ve got to make your own decisions. So that’s my view. Let’s let innovation happen, and let’s let the market test products. If the market likes them, they’ll succeed. If it doesn’t, they won’t.”
Bitcoin, Ethereum and cryptocurrencies close out 2019 as the most profitable investments of the entire decade, outperforming Amazon, Google, Apple, Visa and other traditional stocks.
Bitcoin is up 8,999,900% in the last decade.
