1/ I’ve seen the letters “ETF” so much this week, I thought there had been another hard fork of Ethereum. Of course, what it *actually* is is hype and speculation around an event that many are hoping will cause the next bull run. What’s going on? Thread below. 👇
2/ The whole chatter was caused when @CBOE (who you may recognize from their bitcoin futures) announced that it had filed an application for a bitcoin ETF with the SEC.
3/ For those too embarrassed to Investopedia like the rest of us on Crypto Twitter who pretend to know about financial instruments, exchange-traded funds are securities pegged to different underlying assets that trade on a stock exchange. fidelity.com/learning-cente…
4/ Last year, in the build up to a highly anticipated decision where the SEC denied an application from the Winklevoss bros, @CremeDeLaCrypto explained why ETFs could open up bitcoin to institutional investors currently on the sidelines. etf.com/sections/featu… 
5/ In February of this year, @JPMorgan made news when it called bitcoin-based ETFs the “holy grail,” for investors, citing: 1) easier access (i.e. no wallets necessary); 2) liquid markets; and 3) high integrity (less concern about fraud). businessinsider.de/jpmorgan-expla…
6/ But given that previous ETF applications had been denied, what makes this time different? Well, @alistairmilne summed up the single biggest difference in a tweet:
7/ @StartaleTV went even farther, pointing out not only the shift in regulatory clarity, but also that there had been more institutional engagement with the asset class in the form of the futures markets that came online at the end of 2017.
8/ @Dmitriysz meanwhile went deep on the actual application (which is available for comment on the SEC’s website), trying to identify how the Cboe’s application addressed the major concerns from before:
9/ So, what do people think? @crypto_bobby decided to ruin everyone’s good time with a nice ol’ dollop of preemptive schadenfreude (which was all in good fun and actually turned into a good discussion with @fiebsy)
10/ @Mansa_Godson pointed out the absurdity of some of the comments on the SEC website:
11/ @d1rtydan captured the feeling of everyone who will be waiting eagerly for the theoretical August 10th review date to see if, indeed, this event can help end the bear market.
12/ @griff_owens meanwhile captured the irony of waiting for such massive institutional approval for a technology meant to transform us away from reliance on institutions.
13/ This was more or less the thesis of @LeoAW’s piece from last year “Why The Bitcoin ETF is Bad For Bitcoin” blog.bitcoin.org.hk/why-the-bitcoi…
14/ @Crypto_Macro went even deeper on the skepticism, pointing out that the date isn’t actually set and that these are only useful for a very small class of investors.
15/ Still, it seems like the general sentiment is that people are hopeful that the ETF gets approved, and that the ETF creates a path for a significant amount of new capital to come into the space. It reminds me of the poster on Fox Mulder’s wall: “I Want To Believe.”
16/ Finally, given that @AugurProject launched this week and we're all thinking about predictions, it’s interesting to ask what people are betting will happen. Check out @Bacon_Chain Twitter poll. With over 1500 votes it’s still exactly 50-50 on yes/no.
17/ Any other great analysis about the potential impact of a Bitcoin ETF out there? What else should we read?
