New York–based investment firm SkyBridge Capital and First Advisors have jointly filed to create a Bitcoin ETF.
SkyBridge Capital and First Advisors are the latest parties to submit a Bitcoin ETF application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The investment firm led by Anthony Scaramucci partnered with First Advisors to seek approval for the First Trust SkyBridge Bitcoin ETF.
According to the S-1 filing, SkyBridge will act as sub-adviser to the ETF while First Advisors will serve as the adviser. The shares are expected to be offered through the NYSE Arca platform.
The prospectus explains the fund’s objective as follows: “The investment objective of the trust is for the common shares to reflect the performance of Bitcoin, less the liabilities and expenses of the trust. The ETF will not seek to track the performance of any benchmark or index.”
The two firms join a queue of other applicants including NYDIG, Valkyrie, and VanEck, which have also filed applications. VanEck was the first to file a Bitcoin ETF proposal late last year, followed by Valkyrie and NYDIG in January and February, respectively. Earlier this month, asset manager WisdomTree submitted an application as well. Grayscale has also indicated recently that it is planning to launch a Bitcoin ETF product.
Of the five filings submitted so far, only VanEck’s application has received an acknowledgement from the SEC. It is important to note that the commission has not yet granted approval to any of the applicants.
Outside the United States, several countries such as Brazil and Canada have already approved Bitcoin ETFs from various issuers.
Canada has approved multiple Bitcoin ETF applicants. The Purpose Bitcoin Fund was the first to receive clearance, paving the way for Evolve Funds Group to follow. There is also an Ethereum-based ETF offered by 3iQ Corp, which launched in December of last year.
In Brazil, QR Asset Management received approval last week for the region’s first Latin American Bitcoin ETF.
The success of Bitcoin ETFs outside the U.S. has led many to expect that the SEC might soon follow suit. However, the regulator has yet to grant approval and continues to express reservations about cryptocurrency products.