U.S. SEC Still Has Many Cryptocurrency ETF Applications Pending Despite Recent Progress
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved its first bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF). The approval occurred over the weekend, and the ETF began trading on a U.S. exchange today.
The crypto community has long pushed for a U.S. cryptocurrency ETF after Canada and Brazil approved several earlier this year. While the SEC has been cautious about approving ETFs that track the spot price of cryptocurrencies, it has now cleared a futures-based bitcoin ETF.
Over the weekend, the U.S. SEC approved ProShares’ bitcoin futures ETF. According to the investment firm, the futures ETF will trade on the exchange under the ticker $BITO.
The bitcoin futures ETF will trade on NYSE Arca. With this development, ProShares’ product became the first futures-based crypto ETF listed on a U.S. exchange. This investment vehicle does not invest directly in bitcoin spot markets; however, institutional investors can gain indirect exposure to cryptocurrencies through a bitcoin futures ETF.
The United States is working to catch up with Canada. In recent months, Canadian regulators approved several bitcoin and Ether ETFs. The ETFs listed in Canada track the spot prices of BTC and ETH.
Since the start of the fourth quarter, bitcoin has launched a significant rally. The cryptocurrency has risen more than 30% in the past three weeks and exceeded $62,000 at the time of writing. Thanks to the surge, the leading crypto is now only about 4% below its all-time high of roughly $64,000 reached in April.
Bitcoin’s rally may continue in the coming months; some analysts predict it could reach $100,000 before the end of the year.