Expectations for an exchange-traded fund (ETF) for Bitcoin rose as institutional investors joined the game in 2021.
As it was thought that a Bitcoin ETF to be approved in the USA would trigger a second rally, eyes were turned to October.
Gary Gensler, Chairman of the SEC, who complains about the lack of investor protection instruments in the crypto money markets at every opportunity, remains optimistic about ETFs.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Gensler thinks it’s important for an ETF to be approved for Bitcoin futures contracts to provide greater investor protection.
Expressing similar views in August, Gensler does not stay too far from the approval of the Bitcoin ETF for futures products, if not for spot products. Speaking to the FT, Gensler had this to say about ETFs:
“Investors investing in Bitcoin futures contracts traded on the CME enjoy significant investor protections under the Investment Company Act of 1940. I look forward to SEC members reviewing applications for it.”
After the SEC winked at the Bitcoin futures ETF, many investment companies have applied for ETFs in this direction as well.
The SEC has a total of 24 applications before it, and none of them has been decided. Experts expect a decision on this issue in early October.
Talking about investor protection at every opportunity, Gensler is eagerly awaited whether he will offer the protection that Bitcoin ETFs will provide to investors.
At this point, there are analysts who think that the approval of ETFs that are not for spot markets will not have a big impact.
Bloomberg ETF strategist Eric Balchunas stated in his latest post that the Bitcoin futures ETF launched in Canada did not see the expected interest in the 2-month period and received only $ 15 million in investment.
The Bitcoin futures mutual fund that launched 2mo ago only has $15m in aum, VERY LOW considering the pent up demand. Here’s a look at first 43 days of $BTCFX etc $BTCC (physical) in Canada (whose mkt is 27x smaller btw). Not sure if MF or futures is problem but poss bad sign.. pic.twitter.com/d3WwPxnpuG
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) September 29, 2021