This Day In Crypto History @ 26 February - Circle Buys Poloniex & the SEC Rejects An ETF

With the markets on a downer studying the history of crypto certainly provides a calming perspective.

The world of cryptocurrencies has very much had its fair share of trouble and turmoil over the years.

These big ups and big downs are all part of the game plan.

Today, for 26 February, we have Circle's short lived acquisition of Poloniex, and the SEC's rejection of another Bitcoin ETF.

26 February 2018 - Circle Buys Poloniex Cryptocurrency exchange

US based peer-to-peer payments technology company Circle announced that it had bought the Poloniex Cryptocurrency exchange for $400 million.

Founded in 2013 Circle had initially only operated with fiat currencies. In 2015 it obtained the first BitLicense issued from the New York State Department of Financial Services, and the following year the British government approved the first virtual currency license to Circle.

Until December 2016 Circle's mobile payment platform, Circle Pay included a Bitcoin wallet service. However it then ceased this service stating that it was "now more than ever not a consumer bitcoin exchange".

Just over a year later Circle got back into cryptocurrencies with the purchase of Poloniex.

• Circle acquires cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex

• Circle on Wikepedia

Circle's ownership was not long lived as in October 2019 the Poloniex team and leadership span out from Circle into a new independent international company, Polo Digital Assets, Ltd.

It was later revealed that the acquisition of Poloniex was led by Justin Sun, founder of Tron.

26 February 2020 - SEC Rejects Wilshire Phoenix’s Bitcoin ETF Bid

There had been a number of previous attempts to establish a Bitcoin based Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) but they had all been rejected by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

New York-based Wilshire Phoenix (NYSE Arca) hoped they would become the first with their ETF but on 26 February 2020 they too were rejected with the SEC saying that they had not proven the Bitcoin market is sufficiently resistant to market manipulation...

The Commission concludes that NYSE Arca has not met its burden under the Exchange Act and the Commission’s Rules of Practice to demonstrate that its proposal is consistent with the requirements of Exchange Act Section 6(b)(5), and, in particular, the requirement that the rules of a national securities exchange be ‘designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices’ and ‘to protect investors and the public interest'.

• SEC Rejects Latest Bitcoin ETF Bid

• Securities and Exchange Commission Release

Just under a year later North America got it's first Bitcoin ETF when Canada based Purpose Investments Inc launched the Purpose Bitcoin ETF on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).

It is hoped that the SEC under the new Biden administration will be more receptive to a Bitcoin ETF. Two companies, New York Digital Investment Group and Valkyrie Digital Assets, have both recently filed ETF applications.

Project Update

We are now nearly two weeks into the This Day In Crypto History project and I am learning loads.

I have been digging in all sorts of dusty corners of the internet and so far have uncovered 350 events across 213 days.

New days are being filled regularly and I expect the whole year will have at least one event within the next few weeks.

Hive account@johnspalding has been a great help uncovering events for some difficult days in February.

Anyone else is welcome to join in researching events - 1 HIVE is paid for each accepted event.

Events will have to be notable enough, with links to reputable websites for verification. Events can be posted in comments below or sent to me on Discord (Pennsif#9921).

February is coming to an end, and then there will be a big push into March.

I have even just set up a Twitter account for the project (@DaysInCrypto) if you want to follow.

Tweets to flow presently...

Pennsif

[ graphic made by Hive account@pennsif ]