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#cryptonews #etfnews Yesterday, the SEC denied Van Eck's application for a bitcoin spot ETF. This doesn't bode well for the other $BTC spot ETF applications that are pending. Currently, the only BTC ETF United States residents have access to is a futures ETF, not a spot ETF. What's the difference? A spot ETF is based on actual shares (or coins, in this case) of the asset. A futures ETF is based on, well, futures. A future is a contract that obligates the owner to buy or sell a given asset (like a stock or cryptocurrency) at a given price on a specific date in the future. Why does this matter? There are two big reasons. First, a spot ETF would need to purchase actual bitcoin to back its fund. This would take a big chunk of the available supply of bitcoin off the market, diminishing the supply and potentially driving up the price. A futures BTC ETF would never own any actual bitcoin therefore it won't reduce the available supply of bitcoin. Secondly, the price of a share of a spot based BTC ETF would be tied directly to the price of bitcoin. For example, one share of the ETF might be worth .01 bitcoin. In this case, if the price of BTC is $50,000, 1 share is worth $500. If the price of BTC goes up to $72,000, a share of the ETF would now be worth $720. But a futures ETF would be based on the price of BTC futures contracts. The price of those contracts depends on how bullish or bearish futures traders are on the future price of bitcoin. In other words, the price of those shares would be related to what people *think* the BTC price will be rather than what the price actually is. Share prices of a futures backed ETF will likely follow a similar trajectory to bitcoin, but they won't track the price exactly. Several countries (Canada, for example) have spot BTC ETFs but US regulators don't seem too keen on them. For now, we only have the ProShares bitcoin futures ETF. When the ProShares futures ETF was released, it broke the record for the fastest ETF ever to attract more than $1 billion in assets. And it broke that record in 2 days. Previously, that record belonged to the SPDR Gold Trust, which was created in 2004. If that doesn't tell you something about the institutional demand for BTC, then I don't know what does. For now, I'll just keep buying the genuine article - bitcoin. Happy investing, everyone! 😊
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Sydney photo
nice write up!! 👏🏼👏🏼
Kate Hall photo
Thanks, @sydward ! 🙏
Gaspar Agraph 🤷🏽‍♂️ photo
Excellent explainer! I needed this myself, and still have a few questions. - If an exchange traded fund (ETF) serves to group assets by sector, index, or other categories, what’s the point of a bitcoin-only ETF that has no diversification whatsoever? - How might a spot ETF affect BTC volatility? - Why should the SEC bother with a spot ETF if the crypto itself is available for purchase?
Jelly photo
Jelly@Jega
@gasparkles that last question can also be applied to precious metals. Why bother with lets say a silver spot ETF or silver futures ETF if you can actually buy silver physically or virtually (stored remotely)?
Gaspar Agraph 🤷🏽‍♂️ photo
@Jega interesting point! So what’s the answer? And is it apples to apples with bitcoin and silver, if there is no such tangible cryptocurrency as there is a tangible metal? (Not a rhetorical question.)
Kate Hall photo
@gasparkles I'm not sure if it would affect volatility. I think it's more a question of it affecting supply. @Jega , Gaspar, I think the point of the ETF is to make it easier for certain institutions that can't legally buy bitcoin. They can buy ETFs. It's more for financial institutions that serve the wealthy than it is for you & me. (Assuming neither of you is in the "I own 10 yachts" category, lolSee more
Kate Hall photo
Here's an article that talks about hedge funds buying crypto. Most aren't, but those that are have about 3% of their assets in crypto. "Traditional hedge funds deal with some barriers to investing in cryptocurrencies, with regulatory uncertainty being named as the biggest barrier at 82% of funds. Even half of the traditional hedge funds that do invest in crypto assets say it is a significant chalSee more
Kate Hall photo
And here is another example. In this Charles Schwab FAQ they state they don't allow their investors to buy crypto directly, but they do allow them to buy Grayscale trust stock or bitcoin futures contracts. They explain why and how ETFs could change that: "Many aspects of the cryptocurrency market are still immature, in ways that may pose risks for our clients and for Schwab—and US regulators haSee more
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