Bitcoin: launch of very first bitcoin index fund fuels price increase

(BFM Bourse) – The listing of the very first index fund (ETF) backed by futures contracts on the bitcoin allows the price of the cryptocurrency to return not far from its historic high of last April, to nearly 65,000 dollars.

the bitcoin is coming to Wall Street, and it was eagerly awaited – judging by the market reaction to the launch of the very first ETF on Tuesday when trade opened on Wall Street. Up more than 3% in the seconds following the first listing of this listed index fund – a tool that allows you to bet on cryptocurrency as easily as by placing a stock market order, without having to open a ledger or create an account on a specialized platform, which broadens the base of potential investors – the price of bitcoin crossed $ 63,000 for the first time since mid-April.

After rejecting numerous requests for approvals of index funds backed by the bitcoin since 2013, the US stock market policeman (the SEC) has in fact endorsed the ETF project set up by ProShares, one of the main US providers of this type of exchange-traded fund. The latter called the approval of the SEC a “major step for ETFs”. “We remember 1993 and the first equity ETF ($ SPRD, launched by State Street) of 2002 for the first bond ETF ($ SHY, launched by BlackRock) and 2004 for the first gold ETF ( $ GLD, by StateStreet). 2021 will be remembered for the first ETF linked to a cryptocurrency, “said ProShares CEO Michael Sapir.

It is therefore an event to be marked with a milestone for the entire crypto community ‘in that it testifies to the growing integration of cryptocurrencies into the “traditional” financial ecosystem.

Several other fund managers (such as Valkyrie Investments or Invesco) are also in the starting blocks to offer this type of new financial product on the market and have made requests to this effect with the SEC. ETFs exposed to bitcoins already exist in Asia and Canada, but this is the first time that Wall Street – whose financial strength is by far the largest in the world – has opened up to this type of product.

Concretely, “$ BITO [le code mnémonique sous lequel se négocie cet ETF, NDLR] offer investors the opportunity to gain easy exposure to the performance of the bitcoin, via a brokerage account (…) which eliminates the need for an account on a cryptocurrency trading platform and a crypto wallet “, explains ProShares. Some industry specialists nevertheless put the launch of this product into perspective. , believing that investors who wanted exposure to the bitcoin already have the possibility to buy it very easily.

(with AFP)

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