2021 will be remembered for this milestone!
The bitcoin futures ETF from ProShares will begin trading this week, an amended filing from the company indicated last week, marking a milestone moment in the development of the crypto industry in the United States.
The SEC had not formally approved the creation of bitcoin futures ETF as of Friday afternoon and the agency may never make a formal declaration of approval for it. But the ProShares’ announcement indicates that the agency is unlikely to block the listing at this point.
The NYSE certified “its approval for listing,” meaning that the exchange will allow investors to trade the funds as allowed under federal law without SEC intervention. A person familiar with the SEC’s decision-making clarified that the ETF will be allowed to begin trading this week, barring any last-minute complaint from the regulator.
The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, which will give exposure to bitcoin futures contracts but not the spot market, will trade under the ticker “BITO.”
Crypto advocates have been pushing for years for regulators to approve an ETF related to bitcoin, and the arrival is expected by many to bring in a new class of investors into the digital currencies.
The approval of a futures ETF for bitcoin will be seen as only a partial victory by some in the crypto community, as the outlook for a similar fund that tracks the spot-market price of bitcoin remains unclear.
What is a ETF?
An ETF, which stands for “exchange-traded fund,” is an asset that trades on the open market like a stock and is open to regular investors. Some companies, such as Grayscale, have products that offer exposure to bitcoin already but they are only available to qualified wealthy investors or in over-the-counter markets, where the shares often trade at a price that does not match the underlying cryptocurrency.