ProShares is set to launch a Bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) on the New York Stock Exchange tomorrow, in what would be a first for institutional investors in the U.S., according to a report by the New York Times.
Tomorrow morning, ProShares will launch a long-awaiting exchange-traded fund on the New York Stock Exchange linked to Bitcoin futures, the firm and the exchange told DealBook. The ETF will give investors exposure to Bitcoin without having to hold the cryptocurrency directly, via any ordinary brokerage account.
“2021 will be remembered for this milestone,” said Michael Sapir, the CEO of ProShares. Investors who are curious about crypto but hesitant to engage with unregulated crypto exchanges want “convenient access to Bitcoin in a wrapper that has market integrity,” he said. For nearly a decade, crypto entrepreneurs and traditional finance firms have sought permission to launch a Bitcoin ETF in the U.S., but their applications have been delayed or denied by the SEC, while many remain pending.
Gary Gensler, the SEC chair, recently suggested that the agency might allow crypto ETFs based on futures—which are bets on Bitcoin's price fluctuations rather than the underlying crypto itself and that trade on a highly regulated exchange. Approval for the ProShares ETF, which is based on Bitcoin futures that trade on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, won’t be announced by the SEC, but the firm’s final prospectus met with no opposition ahead of its effective deadline, and the NYSE is readying for launch tomorrow.
“This is an exciting step but not the last,” Douglas M. Yones, the NYSE’s head of exchange-traded products, told DealBook. He foresees a range of crypto-linked ETFs getting approval, eventually. Tomorrow's ETF launch is another sign of crypto's mainstream legitimacy in a year of milestones for the industry, including the crypto exchange Coinbase going public. Critics remain wary of cryptocurrencies, as do regulators, but the digital asset craze of 2021 shows few signs of abating.
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Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
