The US Securities and Exchange Commission has reportedly greenlit the country’s first Bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF).
ProShares, an ETF provider, filed a post-effective amendment prospectus on Friday that states the company plans to launch the BTC Futures ETF on Monday, a sign that the SEC has approved the product.
The fund doesn’t invest directly in Bitcoin, but it provides price exposure to Bitcoin futures contracts, a first in the US.
Both Bloomberg and CNBC, citing people “familiar with the matter,” reported earlier in the week that the SEC planned to approve BTC futures ETFs from ProShares and the independent investment firm Invesco Ltd.
Invesco’s ETF is also set to provide exposure to a collection of exchange-traded products (ETPs) and private investment trusts that hold Bitcoin, rather than direct investments in BTC itself.
Last month, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said he was open to ETFs for Bitcoin futures, noting that they are filed under mutual fund guidelines which provide “significant investor protections.”
Bitcoin is trading at $61,549.38 at time of writing and is up 6.6% in the past day and more than 40% in the past two weeks, according to CoinGecko.
BTC hit its all-time high of $64,804.72 in mid-April.
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