Blackrock, Fidelity and a few other US asset managers have requested the SEC grant them approval for spot bitcoin ETFs.
It is rumoured at least Blackrock’s will be approved.
When this happens there is likely to be a fast migration of capital into this/these funds and out of existing bitcoin proxy instruments such as microstrategy and the miners.
@Freetrade is it even possible you can provide access to these new instruments in advance of the dates they get listed on public markets (most likely Nasdaq or nyse)?
If not, holders of these proxies will have no way of managing the market risk during that volatile time.
The last peice of the puzzle would be for us over here in the UK to be able to buy US etfs and this seems like a possability in the near future.
There is a consultation paper that looks to repeal the requirements for a KID/KIID to enable access to US ETFs:
Section 5.3 states they want to improve retail investor choice, including US-based ETFs.
With all this it may not be to long before we can find ourselves investing in a future BTC etf as well as given retail investers a greater variety other etfs with greater liquidity.
First of its Kind
The first leveraged crypto ETF in the U.S. started trading this week. So far, it has seen over $5.5 million in trading volume.
The ETF saw $500,000 worth of trades in its first 15 minutes.
What’s it called? Volatility Shares 2x Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITX).
What is it? It’s the first U.S.-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) to offer “leveraged long exposure” to the cryptocurrency futures market.
In other terms, they are funds that investors can invest in. These funds use debt to increase equity positions. Compared to other types of ETFs, they have greater risk and return attributes.
Even if the PRIIPS issue is resolved, the FCA has hitherto taken a relatively hardline stance and I expect it will be years before such ETFs are available here.
In other parts of the continent, investors can already access about half a dozen European-listed bitcoin vehicles such as BTCE.