US SEC Finally Approves A Crypto ETF. But It Is A Bitcoin Futures ETF

The United States regulator has finally approved a cryptocurrency ETF. However, it is not the ETF the cryptocurrency community has been waiting for.

SEC Approves The ProShares Bitcoin ETF

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the ProShares Bitcoin futures ETF application over the weekend. This is the first cryptocurrency-linked the United States financial markets regulator has approved.

The ProShares Bitcoin futures ETF is slated to start trading on the stock exchange today after gaining the regulatory approval. With this ETF, institutional investors in the United States can gain indirect access to the cryptocurrency market by investing in Bitcoin futures.

The ETF will list under the ticker $BITO and will trade on the NYSE Arca exchange. This latest development doesn’t come as a surprise as the SEC Gary Gensler has said on numerous occasions that the regulator prefers approving an ETF that tracks Bitcoin futures.

The SEC has been wary of approving ETFs that track Bitcoin’s spot market due to its fear of price manipulation within the crypto space. The regulator said it feels investors are safer when they invest in Bitcoin futures ETF over the regular Bitcoin ETFs.

While the United States is still reviewing the Bitcoin and Ether ETF applications on its table, institutional investors like Ark Invest, who are seeking to invest in ETFs tracking Bitcoin’s spot market, are currently doing so via the Canadian stock exchange. Canada and Brazil have approved a few Bitcoin and Ether ETFs over the past few months. The crypto space is still expecting the US SEC to approve a Bitcoin ETF tracking Bitcoin’s spot price.

Bitcoin Rallies Past $62k

Bitcoin has been performing excellently since the start of the month, with its price up by more than 30% since then. Following the SEC’s approval, Bitcoin rallied past the $60k level and touched $62k before slightly retreating.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading above $61k and is down by less than 5% from its all-time high price of $64,400 per coin.