Bitcoin may not be traded on a major exchange for a while

Bitcoin has an uphill battle before it is traded on a major exchange, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton said Thursday.

“If [investors] think there’s the same rigor around that price discovery as there is on the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange ... they are sorely mistaken,” Clayton said at the Delivering Alpha conference, presented by CNBC and Institutional Investor. “We have to get to a place where we can be confident that trading is better regulated.”

The digital currency is currently traded on cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinbase, but has not yet been approved for trading at major exchanges like the Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange. Investors can trade bitcoin futures at CME Group.

Even bitcoin exchange-traded funds are having trouble receiving approval. Cboe last week withdrew its application to list the VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF, the SEC said.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS

Bitcoin soared by more than 2,000 percent in late 2017 to a high of $19,870 a coin before plunging by 84 percent to a low of $3,169 in December 2018. It has since hit a high of almost $14,000. On Thursday, bitcoin was trading near $9,880 a coin and had a market capitalization of $177 billion.