New York-based asset manager WisdomTree has filed for an exchange-traded bitcoin fund (ETF) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company filed its application on March 11th. It states that the WisdomTree Bitcoin Trust would trade under the ticker BTCW on the Chicago Board Options Exchange’s BZX platform. The trust would provide a regulated way for investors to participate in the price of Bitcoin and allow speculators to do business through their brokers.
The contracts would be settled according to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s “CF Bitcoin US Settlement Price,” a price index that tracks the price based on major BTC cash exchanges.
The proposed ETF isn’t WisdomTree’s first foray into cryptography. The company currently manages a leading institutional ETH fund.
In June 2020, WisdomTree filed for an ETF to invest up to 5% of the capital in BTC futures contracts, although the fund is primarily focused on energy, agriculture and metals. In December 2019, the company launched a physically secured, exchange-traded Bitcoin product that was listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange.
WisdomTree isn’t the only one filing for SEC approval for a Bitcoin ETF. Last month, crypto-focused financial services firm NYDIG filed for a Bitcoin ETF, with leading U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley among the authorized participants in the proposed fund
Leading exchange-traded product issuer VanEck filed for its own BTC fund in January, as well as an ETF that tracks the performance of leading crypto firms. Texas-based Valkyrie Digital Assets also registered a Bitcoin ETF that same month.
However, VanEck’s offer for ETF approval may be influenced by an ongoing lawsuit by its former partner, blockchain technology company SolidX. The company accuses VanEck of plagiarizing a product that the two companies collaborated on in 2018 and 2019.
