According to Commissioner Hester Peirce, the SEC “squandered a decade” by rejecting Bitcoin ETFs

However, one crypto-friendly SEC commissioner thinks that Thursday is much too late for spot Bitcoin ETFs to begin trading.

On Wednesday, as anticipated, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) authorized the trading of spot Bitcoin exchange-trading funds (ETFs). However, one commissioner of the SEC is not sugarcoating the impact that the protracted delay had on the organization, investors, and the cryptocurrency sector.

Longtime crypto enthusiast and SEC commissioner Hester Pierce, popularly known as “Crypto Mom” by supporters, made a statement about Wednesday’s move. This came after SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s remark, in which he expressed his disapproval of the long-awaited Bitcoin ETF.

Peirce added, “Today marks the end of an unnecessary, but consequential, saga,” adding that the initial application for a spot Bitcoin ETF was submitted in the US almost a decade ago. The need for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) has been a recurring concern throughout her six years at the regulator, she added.

She stated, “The logic of the long string of denials is perplexing,” for reasons she has already stated several times. The review procedure for spot Bitcoin ETPs was quite different from the relatively simple processes for approving similar ETPs, making it hard to predict when these files would be approved. As the Commission marked “DENIED” on one application after another, the goalposts continued to shift.

According to Peirce, the SEC’s inaction “has driven retail investors to less efficient means of attaining Bitcoin exposure in the securities markets,” and instead of admitting a mistake, the agency provides a poor justification for its decision to reverse course.

Following a ruling in August by a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, crypto company Grayscale applied to have its Bitcoin Trust converted into a real ETF. The SEC has now decided to authorize spot Bitcoin ETFs. The judge ruled that the prohibition of spot Bitcoin ETFs was “unlawful” because there was no “coherent explanation” for the decision.

Although the most recent Bitcoin ETF proposals are conventional in nature, Gensler said in his own statement that “circumstances, however, have changed” and made reference to the court judgment.

“I conclude the most sustainable road ahead is to permit the listing and trading of these spot Bitcoin ETP shares,” Gensler added, “based on these facts and those detailed more thoroughly in the approval order.”

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