Broker-Dealer

Ethan L. Silver was featured in both American Banker and Interactive Investor, commenting on the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) reticence to approve new cryptocurrency, despite encouraging more discussion. Silver states that: “the practical realities are that there has been a lot of meetings and discussions that have yielded little progress." He agrees with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce that the Howey Test – used by US regulators to determine what should be considered a security – is “overly broad.” Silver asserts that until the SEC provides clarity on how digital assets should be custodied under its existing rules, a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) will never be approved.

Ethan L. Silver is quoted in CoinDesk, CoinWire, Invest in Blockchain, and XBT.net regarding the U.S. government shutdown’s effect on cryptocurrency progress on Wall Street. Silver anticipates that, should the shutdown continue, any remaining staffers would most likely reject the rule change proposal for the highly anticipated exchange-traded fund, in lieu of allowing it to be approved on a technicality.

Ethan L. Silver is quoted in InvestmentNews addressing cryptocurrency market manipulation and custody as it relates to the possibility of a crypto-ETF entering the market in 2019. Silver states that the challenge for the SEC is how to integrate this new technology into the existing SEC rules.