The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is set to allow the first bitcoin futures ETF in what would be a landmark moment for the industry.
The regulator is not likely to block the products from starting to trade next week, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg, with many of the filings waiting for approval based on future contracts.
SEC chairman Gary Gensler recently said the product, of which any are filed under mutual fund rules, provide “significant investor protections”.
Several fund managers have filed to launch bitcoin ETFs, including Invesco, Proshares, VanEck Bitcoin Trust and Valkyrie Digital Assets.
Some could launch as soon as 18 October if the SEC chooses not to delay the process with more than a dozen firms currently waiting to hear if their applications will be approved.
According to our sister title ETF.com, the Invesco Bitcoin Strategy ETF and the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF are likely to become the first to hit the market on approval.
There is likely to be a significant first-mover advantage for the ETFs that are listed first. The three US exchanges already work with ETF issuers ahead of their expected effective date to verify that their products meet any additional exchange-specific requirements.
However, representatives from the exchanges told ETF.com they are taking additional steps to handle what they expect will be a hectic, high-volume series of launches.
Bitcoin edged close to $60,000 as investors bet on SEC approval taking it close to the record highs hit in April.
Investors appeared bullish on the likelihood of approval last week, pouring $225m into bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETP).
Crypto issuer ETC Group accounted for most of the inflows, raking in $165m through its BTCetc Bitcoin Exchange Traded Cryptocurrency ETC (BTCE) taking its assets under management (AUM) to $1.4bn.
