The US SEC has approved the first leveraged Bitcoin futures ETF. The Volatility Shares 2x Bitcoin Strategy ETF will launch on the Chicago Board Options BZX on Tuesday, June 27.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday approved the first leveraged Bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Volatility Shares 2x Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITX) will launch on the Chicago Board Options (CBOE) BXZ Exchange on June 27.
BITX Goes Live on June 27
An ETF allows investors to have exposure to a particular product without owning them directly. An ETF bundles securities from which investors can buy shares to gain exposure to that product without owning Bitcoin itself. Bitcoin ETFs take two shapes: Bitcoin spot ETFs and Bitcoin futures ETFs.
BITX will be a leveraged ETF. In the case of a leveraged ETF, the fund uses debt or financial derivatives as leverage to increase the return of a benchmark index. A leveraged 2x ETF allows investors to gain exposure to BTC by only putting up 50% of the value of BTC. Bitcoin spot ETFs are funds that track Bitcoin’s value rather than futures contracts. Spot ETFs purchase Bitcoin directly, allowing investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin without buying, storing, or managing it themselves.
BITX’s SEC filing indicates the fund:
Seeks investment results that correspond to two times (2x) the return of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Bitcoin Futures Daily Roll Index.
Bitcoin Breaches $30,000 Amid ETF Filings
Bitcoin has reacted positively in response to a string of recent ETF filings. At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $30,640, holding firm above the $30,000 threshold.
The bitcoin price rose this week after numerous financial industry players announced their intention to create Bitcoin ETFs.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, announced last week that it filed an application for a Bitcoin spot ETF. While there is optimism that BlackRock’s ETF application would be the first the get approval, analysis indicates that it would be unlikely in the near term, thanks to the regulatory hurdles posed by the SEC and its chief Gary Gensler.
As is the case with any financial product, the approval process for a Bitcoin ETF involves rigorous scrutiny from regulatory bodies such as the SEC.
BlackRock’s ETF filing triggered a series of ETF filings from several firms, including Valkyrie, WisdomTree and Invesco. The rumour mill also suggests that Fidelity is filing an application for a Bitcoin spot ETF.
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