South Africa’s Johannesburg Stock Exchange rejects Bitcoin ETF application

The South African Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has rejected the proposal by asset management company Sygnia to list a Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). JSE cites the reason for rejecting Sygnia’s proposal “the lack of a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies”.

Unexpected rejection

Meanwhile, a report suggests that while Sygnia is not anticipating an “immediate launch of a Bitcoin ETF,” management is still not anticipating a “quick rejection.” Instead, Sygnia’s founder and CEO Magda Wierzycka said in response to the JSE’s decision:

“We think the JSE will put them in ‘File 13’ and when they are done Sygnia will be first in the queue for the JSE review.”

Magda Wierzycka – Founder and Executive Chairman of Sygnia.

In addition, Wierzycka said that the Bitcoin ETF “will attract attention with the JSE”. The same report, meanwhile, shows that the JSE has rejected a similar request from Sygnia for the second time. In 2017, Sygnia tried unsuccessfully to list the world’s first crypto ETF on the JSE. At the time, the exchange’s former CEO John Burke suggested that the JSE “was not ready to approve a cryptocurrency listing”.

The power of bitcoin

In one report Elsewhere, Wierzycka is quoted as expressing trust in the existential power of Bitcoin. She also talked about how the price of crypto assets was manipulated by “a very powerful and influential person”.

“The volatility we’ve seen is an – obviously unexpected – characteristic of the market manipulation created by Elon Musk. If that happens to a publicly traded company, it will be investigated by the SEC and severely punished. “

After the South African Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG) published a new attitude report on cryptocurrencies, it remains unclear whether the JSE’s rejection of a Bitcoin ETF will continue. In the report (published shortly after the JSE rejected the ETF proposal), the IFWG proposes regulation for the crypto ecosystem.

If the IFWG recommendations are adopted, South Africa would be one of the first countries in Africa to regulate cryptocurrencies. In turn, crypto regulation would likely force the JSE to reconsider Sygnia’s decision to reject the application.

Annie

According to News.Bitcoin

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