The first bitcoin futures ETF will begin trading this week, marking a milestone in the development of crypto industry. The futures product has been approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The debut will be with ProShares, a filing from the company indicated.
This means the exchange will allow investors to trade the funds as allowed under federal law without SEC intervention.
The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, which will give exposure to bitcoin futures contracts but not the spot market, will trade under the ticker “BITO.”
Crypto advocates have been pushing for years for regulators to approve an ETF related to bitcoin, and the arrival is expected by many to bring in a new class of investors into the digital currencies.
Anticipation of the ETF’s listing appeared to boost the price of bitcoin over the past week. The cryptocurrency has jumped more than 10% over the past week and was trading above $61,000 on Friday afternoon.
Several companies, including Invesco and Valkyrie, have applied to launch similar ETFs that could follow ProShares into the market in the weeks ahead.
The approval of a futures ETF for bitcoin will be seen as only a partial victory by some in the crypto community, as the outlook for a similar fund that tracks the spot-market price of bitcoin remains unclear.
An ETF is an asset that trades on the open market like a stock and is open to regular investors. Some companies, such as Grayscale, have products that offer exposure to bitcoin already but they are only available to qualified wealthy investors or in over-the-counter markets, where the shares often trade at a price that does not match the underlying cryptocurrency.
