ProShares’ Bitcoin ETH will be the first exchange-traded fund in the United States. The soon-to-be-launched Bitcoin ETF will be traded under the ticker BITO. BITO will provide Bitcoin exposure to US-based investors that feel at ease buying stocks and ETFs but are not prepared to use cryptocurrency exchange to acquire digital assets.
Key takeaways:
- The blockchain community has been waiting for almost ten years, more precisely since the Winklevoss brothers filed the first BTC ETF application in 2013, for the first Bitcoin ETF to begin trading within the borders of the US.
- In Monday’s press release, Michael Sapir, the CEO of ProShares, stated that the launch of the first Bitcoin ETF will be a historic milestone for the industry, similar to the first equity ETF launch in 1993.
- Sapir also added that BITO will provide “exposure to BTC to a large segment of investors who have a brokerage account and are comfortable buying stocks and ETFs,” but are not prepared to create a cryptocurrency wallet account.
- On October 15, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved Proshare and Valkyrie’s BTC applications, citing “significant investor protections” as the main reason for their decision.
- While the regulatory agency has approved ETF based on futures contracts trading, it remains to be seen whether coin-based ETF will be approved in the near future.
- The review of VanEck’s BTC ETF proposal is scheduled for November 14. It will be interesting to see how the SEC handles the review process now that future-based Bitcoin ETFs are here.
