SEC Chair Clayton: There’s work left to be done on bitcoin ETF

In an interview with CNBC, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton said that "progress is being made" on the bitcoin ETF front.

Still, concerns hang over the decision to approve such a product. During the interview, Clayton raised those concerns, noting the lack of a proper crypto custody provider and the threat of price manipulation on unregulated exchanges. That's despite a number of new custody providers coming online this year, including Fidelity's new custody business and San Francisco-based Anchorage, and efforts to expose wash trading on certain exchanges.

While Clayton acknowledged that bitcoin businesses are coming closer to satisfying his concerns, he states that people need "to answer those hard questions for us to be comfortable that this was the appropriate type of product."

Clayton's comments come just a few weeks before the final deadline for two ETF proposal, Bitwise and VanEck/Soldix, are decided on. On October 13 and October 18, the SEC will decide whether to approve Bitwise's and VanEck's proposal, respectively.

ETF hopefuls, take note.