Some of the crypto industry’s biggest exchanges are joining with the Winklevosses in an effort to bring self-regulation to a market that many perceive to be fly-by-night and unstructured.
Five months following its creation, the Virtual Commodity Association (VCA) has onboarded Bittrex, bitFlyer USA and Bitstamp, a site update reveals[1]. A press release[2] detailing the developments indicates that the VCA plans to hold its inaugural meeting in September 2018. On the docket for deliberation, the association plans to discuss membership guidelines, best practices for productive self-regulation and staffing appointments for the VCA’s executive director and board of directors.
“The initial participants in the VCA Working Group will include: Bitstamp, Inc., bitFlyer USA, Inc., Bittrex, Inc., and Gemini Trust Company, LLC. The Working Group will work toward the goal of establishing an industry-sponsored, self-regulatory organization (SRO) to oversee virtual commodity marketplaces,” the official press release states.
The first round of members to join since the Winklevosses’ created the self-regulatory organization with their Gemini exchange, the expansion represents a significant step toward private sector self-policing in an industry that has seen little regulatory direction[3] from public sector institutions, particularly in the United States.
Last month, on July 26, 2018, the SEC denied[4] an ETF proposed by the Winklevosses in cooperation with BATS Global Market’s BZX stock exchange. Just a day before, the SEC put five ETF decisions[5] on the backburner until September, going on weeks later to delay yet another [6]ETF until the same month, as well.
With its rejection of the Winklevoss ETF, the SEC suggested that bitcoin markets do not feature enough structure or regulatory safeguards to merit approving an ETF, a decision that one commissioner believes[7] sets
