Bitcoin Daily: SEC Delays Bitcoin Exchange Approval; LVMH Puts Luxury Goods On The Blockchain

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed a decision to approve a bitcoin exchange-traded fund, asking for more comments in the meantime. This isn’t the first time they have put off making a final decision.

The delay does not “indicate that the Commission has reached any conclusions with respect to any of the issues involved,” the regulator said, according to Bloomberg.

“It’s not a big surprise that the SEC is putting off this decision,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas. “But given that their issues are with the underlying bitcoin market, not sure why they just don’t deny it as opposed to stringing along the crypto faithful with false hope.”

In other news, ConsenSys, along with LVMH and Microsoft, announced the launch of the AURA platform, which will serve the entire luxury industry with product tracking and tracing services.

AURA, which is based on ethereum blockchain technology and utilizes Microsoft Azure, will allow consumers to access the product history and proof of authenticity of luxury goods. Several of LVMH’s brands — including Louis Vuitton and Parfums Christian Dior — are already involved, while advanced discussions are underway to add other brands from the group.

“AURA is a groundbreaking innovation for the luxury industry. ConsenSys is proud to contribute and to work with LVMH on an initiative that will serve the entire luxury industry, protecting the interests, integrity, and privacy of each brand, leveraging ethereum blockchain technology in a truly decentralized way,” Ken Timsit, Managing Director of ConsenSys Solutions, said in a press release.

JP Morgan Chase & Co. believes bitcoin’s latest rally has brought its price past its “intrinsic value.”

“Over the past few days, the actual price has moved sharply over marginal cost,” JPMorgan analysts wrote in a note, according to Bloomberg. “This divergence between actual and intrinsic values carries some echoes of the spike higher in late 2017, and at the time this divergence was resolved mostly by a reduction in actual prices.”

The comments come as the crypto surged as much as 17 percent Monday (May 20), reaching the $8,000 level for a time. In fact, bitcoin has more than doubled since earlier this year as Wall Street firms embrace crypto and its blockchain technology.

“A strong breakout would no doubt garner a very large amount of excitement, and opens up the way for a much larger move upward,” wrote Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro, in a note Monday, according to Bloomberg.