VanEck has confirmed it will launch its Bitcoin exchange traded fund (ETF) on Tuesday 16 November.
The United States based asset management company is launching the futures-linked ETF after being rejected by the Securities and Exchange Commission for a ‘spot’ Bitcoin ETF late last week.
The Bitcoin futures ETF, launching on Tuesday, was approved by the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and will trade under the ticker XBTF.
The news will be welcomed by VanEck, who specialises in thematic, gold-based ETFs, and mutual funds.
It was recognised amongst crypto investors as the first US firm to file for a Bitcoin ETF, but was pipped to market by ProShares and Valkyrie which went directly to a futures-linked solution.
At the end of October, Valkyrie’s Bitcoin Strategy ETF started trading on Nasdaq. A few weeks earlier, ProShares launched the first ever Bitcoin ETF, trading under BITO, which coincided with the crypto-currency hitting an all-time high of US$67,000.
READ: ProShares ‘BITO’ ETF nearing contracts limit
As the first product of its kind, BITO was met with huge demand, with it becoming the fastest ETF to reach US$1bn assets under management in a matter of days, beating the previous record set by a gold ETF in 2004.
Bitcoin futures have been trading in Chicago since December 2017, and, in the eyes of US regulators have proved to be an acceptable instrument as a basis for exchange traded products. The Chicago traded futures are regulated by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission.
ETFs on underlying crypto assets have yet to be approved by the SEC.
In Europe, the BTCetc – ETC Group Physical Bitcoin, ran by HanEtf and listed on the Xetra in Frankfurt, was the first crypto exchange-traded product (ETP) and it has been trading for a long time, since June 2020.
Trading under the ticker BTCE, it is currently at US$63.97, up more than 500% from its initial inception price of US$10.
