Bitcoin ETF Providers See New Hope for Approval

• Bitcoin ETF Providers See New Hope for Approval

Fund managers seek U-turn by regulators after start of cryptocurrency futures trading.

Bitcoin mania has reignited a race to launch an exchange-traded fund in the US that would track the volatile cryptocurrency.

According to Financial Times, approval for such an ETF would be a U-turn for the Securities and Exchange Commission, which in March refused to approve a fund proposed by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss citing concern that “significant markets for bitcoin are unregulated”.

But the launch of bitcoin derivatives by two big exchanges has encouraged potential ETF providers to push for approval of funds that would track bitcoin futures instead of the underlying cryptocurrency.

Regulatory filings show that VanEck and Rex ETFs, which withdrew earlier applications after the SEC’s ruling on the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust, refiled to launch bitcoin futures-based ETFs this month. Direxion Investments registered a bitcoin ETF on Friday. The providers declined to comment because of regulatory restrictions.