Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest has filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to create a Bitcoin exchange traded fund (ETF).
Wood has been buying up proxies for the digital coin in names such as Coinbase and the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. Now, the investor who is focused on innovation and disruptive technology is seeking to own Bitcoin.
The ETF’s investment objective would be to track the performance of Bitcoin, according to the SEC filing. The fund would trade under the ticker symbol “ARKB,” if approved by the SEC. Ark Invest is working in partnership with 21Shares to launch the ETF.
Bitcoin has hovered around $34,000 U.S. for the past couple of weeks as it struggles to reclaim its previous highs. Wall Street has been watching carefully to see if the word’s most valuable cryptocurrency will hold above $30,000 U.S. Some analysts forecast that Bitcoin will fall to $20,000 U.S. The digital asset reached an all-time high of about $63,000 in April.
China’s Bitcoin crackdown, Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) decision to stop accepting Bitcoin for its electric vehicles, and excessive risk taking by cryptocurrency traders have contributed to the recent price drop.
The SEC last week postponed a decision to approve the first Bitcoin ETF. The latest action comes as SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has called for more regulation of cryptocurrency exchanges and greater investor protections. So far, there have been eight other Bitcoin ETFs filed with the SEC.
