Valkyrie Digital Assets filed an application for a Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) on Friday, making it the second company in a month.
According to the Dallas-registered Valkyrie Digital Assets, the Valkyrie Bitcoin Trust would be listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Coinbase Custody Trust Company, LLC would act as the custodian for the proposed ETF.
Leah Wald, CEO of Valkyrie Digital Assets, told CoinDesk, “Our executive team previously launched several ETFs, publicly traded funds and ETPs, including Bitcoin funds.”
Wald explains that the team behind the ETF includes: “Steven McClurg and John Key who worked together on over 100 esoteric and novel deals that passed regulatory scrutiny.”
While an ETF is seen as beneficial because it trades on the stock exchange similar to stocks in popular companies like Apple and Microsoft, over the years the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has rejected proposals for Bitcoin ETFs due to concerns about market volatility and manipulation of the market Industry.
Still, there were signs that the SEC is warming to the idea. In October 2020, then-chairman Jay Clayton, whom many viewed as lukewarm to crypto, stated the agency was still open to considering ETF proposals.
Now that a new government is changing the guard at the SEC, crypto proponents are largely hoping that such an ETF will be approved in 2021. Clayton officially resigned last month, replacing Gary Gensler, who is widely seen as more pro-crypto than his predecessor.
The departure of Dalia Blass, director of the SEC’s investment management division, this month also adds to optimism. Pale was the author of a 2018 letter from the SEC expressing concerns that the Bitcoin market was not big enough or liquid enough to be ready for a publicly traded product.
