SEC could approve bitcoin-futures ETFs as early as Monday
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- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could decide as early as Monday to allow American ETFs to hold bitcoin futures, making it easier for small investors to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency.
- The agency is facing a Monday deadline to decide whether to approve or deny a filing by ProShares to launch a ProShares Bitcoin Futures ETF.
- Several other ETF firms have also filed to launch similar funds and will be watching closely to see whether regulators OK ProShares' plan.
- The list of issuers that are anticipating the green light include names such as Valkyrie, Galaxy Digital, VanEck, ETF Series Solutions, ARK Invest, Invesco and ProShares.
- Many investors have been anticipating the ability to trade crypto assets through exchange traded funds, but the SEC has yet to allow ETFs to directly hold things like Bitcoin (BTC-USD).
- The proposed bitcoin-futures ETFs won't invest directly in crypto, but do aim to trade futures contracts based on Bitcoin (BTC-USD).
- Some market watchers saw a tweet Thursday from the SEC about the risks of bitcoin-futures investing as inferring that such funds' approvals could come soon:
- Bitcoin (BTC-USD) price action: Thursday’s session +0.28% and +98.5% YTD.
- Speculators have reportedly been piling into bitcoin at least partly on anticipation that the SEC will soon approved four such ETFs.