QUICK TAKE: No Exchange Trading for Bitcoin, Yet

Bitcoin won’t be trading on the public exchanges just yet.

Says who?

Jay Clayton, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, that’s who. In speaking at the recent Delivering Alpha conference co-hosted by CNBC and Institutional Investor, Clayton said that until there is better regulation over the nascent crypto markets don’t expect any exchange-based trading. Until that happens, investors can continue to expect volatile price swings and liquidity issues.

With a market cap of approximately $177 billion, Bitcoin has seen a number of attempts to go mainstream, including using it to back ETFs that could attract not just retail but institutional investors.

Bitcoin currently trades around $8,240, up around 19% over the past year but off 40% from its all-time high just above $20,000, according to Coinbase quotes.

“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,” said Clayton, the opening speaker at the Delivering Alpha conference. “We have to get to a place where we can be confident that trading is better regulated.”