Nearly a dozen spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will begin trading in America today after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the investment vehicles.
The Wall Street regulator approved 11 spot Bitcoin ETF applications it had received after the stock market closed yesterday, paving the way for them to begin trading today (Jan. 11).
The companies launching Bitcoin ETFs include BlackRock (BLK), Invesco (IVZ), Fidelity, Ark Invest, and Grayscale, among others.
Retail investors are expected to flock to the new ETFs as they provide an easier, cheaper, and safer way to gain exposure to Bitcoin.
Until now, American investors who wanted exposure to Bitcoin had to purchase and own the digital asset, which currently costs more than $46,000 U.S. for one token.
Investors also had to store their Bitcoin assets through a complicated process that involved digital wallets and encryption.
The new ETFs, which will track the price movements in Bitcoin, are forecast to attract tens of billions of dollars to cryptocurrencies and be a boon to the asset managers behind them.
However, while the SEC approved the Bitcoin ETFs, the regulator made clear that it still doesn’t recommend investors put money into crypto.
In a statement, SEC Chair Gary Gensler said the ETF approval is not an endorsement of Bitcoin, which he said remains “a speculative, volatile asset.”
The Bitcoin fund issuers have been jockeying for position ahead of the SEC’s approval, promoting their ETF fees in recent days.
Some companies behind the Bitcoin ETFs, such as Bitwise and Invesco, have promised to waive their fees completely for the first six months while other asset managers are charging fees between 0.20% and 0.25%.
Bitcoin ETFs are already available in Canada and other jurisdictions around the world. But until now, the SEC had resisted them over concerns that crypto is too risky for the average investor.
The price of Bitcoin has risen 160% in the past 12 months to trade at $46,700 U.S.
