Time is almost up for the initial review period of the Bitcoin futures ETFs currently before the Securities and Exchange Commission with the Commission having to approve, reject, or delay the applications in the coming weeks.
After remarks made last month by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler that specified that a Bitcoin futures 1940 Act fund would be looked upon favorably by the Commission, a flurry of ETFs were submitted following those very guidelines and four are due for review this month, reports Bloomberg.
Image source: Bloomberg
The $6.7 trillion U.S. ETF industry has been working towards a Bitcoin ETF approval since the first fund filing in 2013. Canada and Europe have already been successfully trading cryptocurrency ETFs for months, and investors in the U.S. are very eager to have a chance to access the crypto market through an ETF.
“We are pretty bullish on approval here,” said James Seyffart, an ETF analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. “We just can’t see Gensler and the SEC going out of their way to state positive comments about a 1940-act Bitcoin futures ETF at the end of September and then denying all of them less than a month later.”
Signs seem to be turning more hopeful; over the summer months, the SEC requested the removal of Ethereum futures ETF filings by two issuers, but left the Bitcoin futures alone. The regulatory body also approved the Volt Crypto Industry Revolution and Tech ETF (BTCR) this week, an actively managed ETF that will invest most of its assets into companies that have Bitcoin exposure, as well as companies that have exposure to the infrastructure that supports the cryptocurrency.
However, there is still skepticism about the chances of the cryptocurrency futures-based ETFs being approved.
“The odds of approval in the next month are better than 50/50, but I would hardly be surprised if the SEC kicked this particular can down the road a few more times along with the physical Bitcoin ETF,” said Dave Nadig, CIO of ETF Trends. “It’s clear that what’s needed is an actual regulatory plan. We have yet to get a hint that one is really forthcoming soon.”
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