Wall Street Investors Need ETNs To Join The Crypto Space: CBOE President

Ed Tilly who is the CEO, president and chairman of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) has recently declared that there is a major need for Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded notes (ETNs) as a major incentive for Wall Street institutional investors to join the crypto space. Tilly made the Bitcoin news today with this statement, predicting that the growth of Bitcoin may be held because of this reason.

As one article on Business Insider reported, Tilly declared that the growth of Bitcoin in listed markets is still hamstrung by the lack of a trading product geared toward mom-and-pop investors.”

He also said that Bitcoin futures did not see a substantial growth mainly because of the lack of a note or tracker tied to BTC that retail customers could trade on. In the article, we can see an elaboration about Bitcoin futures and exchange-traded notes (ETNs) which according to Tilly, are both important for offering access points to Wall Street-type investors.

Tilly explained ETNs as a more accessible option to the average investor, saying:

“The power of having that future there is also having an ETN that is more attractive to retail, and then institutions can lay that risk off on the listed futures market. […] Absent that leg and introducing trackers or notes, I think we will be in this, ‘It trades every day, but it is not the story.’”

He also said that the main reason why regulators did not approve a Bitcoin exchange-traded product such as the (still-pending) ETF applications is that the regulators cannot protect investors from manipulation on a market.

“You answer that question, you get your first ETN,” the president of CBOE concluded.