Well dear readers, in a surprise move, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has decided to place a stay on three orders that rejected Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) seeking to be listed on the NYSE Arca and other regulated exchanges.

This is after nine applications were rejected Wednesday, on supposed grounds that the products did not comply with the requirements by the “Exchange Act Section 6(b)(5), in particular the requirement that a national securities exchange’s rules be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices.”

Is this a routine review of staff decisions by a Commissioner? Hester Pierce, an SEC Commissioner who has issued a dissent of a prior ETF rejection last month, says yes, that this is routine.

We shall see…

Don’t panic, dear readers. Quite a few voices today in the media racking up page views by screaming that the crypto sky is falling (again). Par for the course given that we’re in the second inning in the crypto space. We at Crypto Mouse believe this will continue for the remainder of 2018, at least. Things have to fail and kinks have to be streamlined before the institutional players can join in.

That being said, we’re watching Ethereum closely, which is near it’s level to about a year ago. Many say profits are being taken, and perhaps over the counter manipulation is in play. Could be. But something doesn’t smell quite right. Avoid buying any Ethereum on the dips for now.

Most interesting plays for us at the moment are Bitcoin (the granddaddy of them all), Eos (who raised billions with a B, don’t sleep on that!) and Decred. Don’t buy just yet though. If your fingers are twitching and you just can’t help yourself, put a small limit order in for BTC at $5,500, or better yet at $5,000.

Patience is paramount people, the music hasn’t stopped yet, no need to rush and pick the closest chair.

SolidX, a crypto startup, presented this deck to the Securities and Exchange Commission last week, officials from the Division of Trading and Markets, the Division of Corporation Finance and the Divison of Economic and Risk Analysis were all in attendance.

The presentation offers insight into the arguments being made in favor of the bitcoin ETF, including “significant changes in product, market structure and overall circumstances since March 2017 disapproval“.

While a decision was expected soon, the Commission has announced it will delay its decision: “Accordingly, the Commission … designates September 30, 2018, as the date by which the Commission shall either approve or disapprove, or institute proceedings to determine whether to disapprove, the proposed rule change…”

Stay tuned, dear readers…

The Winklevoss twins, supposed creators of Facebook, and early Bitcoin adopters, were turned down a second time by the SEC on their proposal for a Bitcoin ETF.

Notably, one of the four Commissioners dissented, which you can read in full here.

The other ETF most like the Winklevii application is one backed by VanEck and SolidX (it’s third attempt), with a proposed cost of $200,000/share, and is still in play.

General sentiment is that we are likely still 12-18 months away from a Bitcoin ETF, but rest assured we at Crypto Mouse are keeping an eye on this situation, dear readers.