Number Of Proposed Bitcoin ETFs Grows

Another round of leveraged/inverse funds hits the regulatory pipeline.

There’s no shortage of bitcoin ETFs in the regulatory pipeline these days, with Direxion Funds the latest to add leveraged/inverse bitcoin strategies to the long list of proposed ETFs awaiting approval.

It all began more than three years ago, when the Winklevoss brothers first put into registration a physical bitcoin ETF in a proposal that has since been turned down by the Securities and Exchange Commission. After myriad twists and turns, some 23 filings for bitcoin ETFs have reached regulators in the past few years, and the number seems to be growing now that bitcoin futures are a reality.

The majority of these proposed funds are derivatives-based strategies that will invest in bitcoin futures. Some focus more broadly on the technology behind bitcoin, the blockchain; and a few are still hoping to offer investors a physical bitcoin portfolio at some point in time.

Bloomberg Intelligence’s Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas, who put the odds of seeing a bitcoin ETF launch in 2018 at 3-to-1, offered this handy list of all bitcoin ETFs below. (The newest Direxion funds offering a range of leveraged and inverse exposure to bitcoin futures are in blue.)

Source: Bloomberg Intelligence

Regulators have yet to signal whether an approval of any or all of these strategies is imminent.

Meanwhile, ETF investors can access bitcoin through two ARK Invest funds, the ARK Web x.0 ETF (ARKW) and the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), each of which have an approximate 7% allocation to the cryptocurrency.

For more on all things bitcoin ETFs, check out our Bitcoin channel.

Contact Cinthia Murphy at [email protected]