Proshares, an American provider of exchange traded products, will launch the first-ever Bitcoin ETF on Tuesday, 19 October. With this, the company is taking a big step towards the crypto market.
The Bitcoin ETF will be trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the “BITO” symbol.
The Bitcoin-linked ETF will be based on Bitcoin futures contracts, which means it will not directly invest in Bitcoin. It can be bought and sold like a common stock so there is no need for the investors to have a cryptocurrency wallet or an account at a crypto exchange.
“BITO will open up exposure to bitcoin to a large segment of investors who have a brokerage account and are comfortable buying stocks and ETFs, but do not desire to go through the hassle and learning curve of establishing another account with a cryptocurrency provider and creating a bitcoin wallet or are concerned that these providers may be unregulated and subject to security risks” said CEO of Proshares, Michael Sapir in the statement. (Proshares, 2021) He also commented that “a multitude of investors have been eagerly awaiting the launch of a bitcoin-linked ETF after years of efforts to launch one.” (Business Insider, 2021)
The Bitcoin ETF is being launched in a time when Bitcoin’s market cap has broken above $1 trillion, what helped the broader cryptocurrency market to exceed $2 trillion market’s value.
The price of Bitcoin (BTC) +1.54% is nearing its highest level of $64,869.78 reached in April, climbing to $62,667.51 on Monday.
Many companies are still awaiting the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve a bitcoin ETF that will be directly traded as the underlying asset.
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*Stock percentage taken on 19.10.2021 at 12:36.
*Mozée, Carla (18. October 2021). Business Insider: The first-ever bitcoin ETF will start trading on Tuesday. Last viewed on 19.10.2021 on https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/proshares-bitcoin-strategy-etf-bito-nyse-first-futures-fund-launch-2021-10
*https://www.proshares.com/news/proshares_launches_first_us_bitcoin_linked_etf.html#:~:text=BITO%2C%20or%20ProShares%20Bitcoin%20Strategy,mutual%20fund%20in%20the%20U.S.
