According to a US Government SEC registration form, cryptocurrency index fund provider Bitwise Asset Management has applied to launch a new Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) with the government body.
An ETF is a platform that tracks and trades an asset in the same way as stocks are traded on an exchange.
Will Bitwise manage to succeed where so many others are failing?
Bitwise Files Bitcoin ETF
Bitwise’s proposal is for an ETF that tracks the value of Bitcoin via the Bitwise Bitcoin Total Return Index. This value is “calculated based on the prices of Bitcoin that the Index Provider derives from Bitcoin price transactions occurring on cryptocurrency exchanges.”
Basically, the index will take Bitcoin’s value from a variety of crypto exchanges and will, therefore, offer a more accurate and precise market value for the coin.
This is one difference that Bitwise’s ETF proposal offers that previous ETF proposals—which have all been rejected—did not.
Another Vital Difference
Another difference on offer with Bitwise’s ETF proposal is that it would need “regulated third-party custodians to hold its physical bitcoin.”
The company’s Global Head of ETFs, John Hyland, spoke of this in the press release:
“Having a regulated bank or trust company hold physical assets of a fund has been the standard under US fund regulation for the last 80 years, and we believe that is now possible with Bitcoin.”
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Pending
Bitwise is still awaiting a decision from the SEC on a previously filed ETF that would track the Bitwise HOLD 10 Private Index Fund.
The approval of a crypto ETF has yet to happen, although the industry has been crying out for one. In December 2018, the SEC postponed its decision on a Bitcoin ETF by investment firm VanEck and blockchain company SolidX. It is now expected to make a decision by the end of February.
Featured image: DepositPhotos © cookelma
