According to a Form S-1 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), asset manager VanEck Digital Assets has filed for an Ethereum Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). Called VanEck Ethereum Trust, it would trade on the exchange Cboe BZX, if approved.
The investment product would track the MVSI CryptoCompare Ethereum Benchmark Rate and would hold physical ETH. As Custodian, VanEck has appointed the Delaware Trust Company.
Per the document, the custodian will hold the physical ETH. If the cryptocurrency trade downwards, VanEck will redeem or sell more shares. Selling the ETH has been ruled out. According to the document:
The U.S. Banking Committee has approved the nomination of Gary Gensler as chairman of the SEC.
The SEC currently has 4 applications on file for the approval of a Bitcoin ETF. The first of them was filed in December 2020, increasing the pressure on the agency to approve the first Bitcoin ETF in the US. The latest application was filed just yesterday, Thursday, March 11, 2021, by asset management firm WisdomTree.
In the prospectus, the firm states that WisdomTree Bitcoin Trust will issue common shares listed on the Cboe BZX exchange under the ticker symbol BTCW. WisdomTree Digital Commodity Services will serve as the ETF’s sponsor and Delaware Trust Company will be the trustee. In this way, the product will provide exposure to the Bitcoin price based on the US CF Bitcoin fixed price. The company will hold Bitcoin itself, but will not “sell or buy BTC directly.”
March 9, 2021
I’ll be honest; I have mixed feelings about Bitcoin. It’s not that I’m a crypto-skeptic in general. I’ve been bullish on blockchain and 90% of the cool business models that have emerged, from stablecoins to Central Bank Digital Currencies to NFTs and swap-exchanges on the Ethereum blockchain. But the long-term use case for Bitcoin specifically I still struggle with. It may be that simply calling “first” here is enough, and thus Bitcoin will ultimately be a primary crypto store of value, used mostly for staking and collateral purposes.
But that’s not actually my point today. My point today is about the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). I’m going to use GBTC as a bit of shorthand because I’m certain enough that in all the ways that matter, all of the other similar products (BITW, ETHE, etc.) have at least notionally similar if not identical qualities.
Bitcoin-oriented crypto firm NYDIG has applied for a Bitcoin ETF to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
News that the New York Digital Investment Group registered for a Bitcoin ETF emerged yesterday. This comes a week after its founder Ross Stevens discussed with MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor on the possible entry of a lot of institutional funds into the Bitcoin market. The firm, a Bitcoin-centric subsidiary of Stone Ridge Asset Management, joins Valkyrie Digital Assets and Vaneck that have already submitted their bitcoin-based ETF filings.
NYDIG’s Bitcoin ETF registration is a Form S-1 statement that seeks to dispense common shares trade on New York Stock Exchange Arca.