2024-01-11 11:07

Grayscale's conversion of its $27 billion bitcoin trust into an ETF was finally approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday Grayscale, the manager of GBTC, is claiming bragging rights for being the first of the newly approved crop of spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to begin trading, a representative for the firm said on Thursday. “I am happy to confirm that GBTC started pre-market trading at 4 am EST this morning,” Grayscale’s head of comms Jennifer Rosenthal said via email. For full coverage of bitcoin ETFs, click here. Grayscale’s conversion of its $27 billion bitcoin trust into an ETF was finally approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday, one of many applicants approved by the U.S. markets regulator for the first time marking a historic milestone for the cryptocurrency industry. GBTC, which is priced at $40.496 in pre-trading on the NYSE Arca, has a markedly higher fee than its competitors, charging investors 1.5%, whereas the rest are charging in the range of 0.2%-0.9%. Grayscale appears to be relying on the head start of its $27 billion in assets giving it a competitive advantage against the pack. Amongst the other ETFs approved on Wednesday, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) is also available for trading in pre-market, up more than 25% at $27.54 at the time of writing. Read More: Bitcoin ETFs: What to Expect on Day One https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/01/11/grayscale-claims-bragging-rights-for-first-spot-bitcoin-etf-to-trade/

2024-01-11 11:02

Three out of five committee members approved the various filings that gave the green light for the first-ever spot bitcoin ETFs to be offered in the U.S. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Gary Gensler was among three of the five committee members who approved the filings that made the first-ever spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) a reality. A commission votes notice on the SEC site shows Gensler, along with commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda, were the three members who approved the filings. Commissioners Caroline Crenshaw and Jaime Lizárraga voted against the plans. While Peirce is a known backer of the cryptocurrency industry, Gensler has remained publicly dismissive and skeptical of the market, citing customer protection and fraud as key risks that plague the industry. Gensler’s first comments after the Wednesday approvals reinforced the SEC’s negative stance on bitcoin, stating that the regulator’s loss in court over rejecting Grayscale’s in 2022 left it with no option but to approve over 12 bitcoin ETFs. “We did not approve or endorse bitcoin,” Gensler said. “Investors should remain cautious about the myriad risks associated with bitcoin and products whose value is tied to crypto.” In another statement, Crenshaw, who disapproved of the filings, said the decision put “us on a wayward path that could further sacrifice investor protection.” Approved providers include financial giants BlackRock (BLK) and Fidelity, while crypto native fund Grayscale’s popular Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) has been uplisted as an ETF as well. Fees on these products range from zero for the first few months (at ARK, Bitwise and Invesco) to as much as 1.5% (at Grayscale). https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/01/11/gary-gensler-voted-to-approve-bitcoin-etfs-despite-public-criticism/

2024-01-11 09:45

Polymarket saw betting contracts worth more than $5.7 million change hands on Wednesday. Polymarket, a decentralized betting platform, reaped a windfall $5.7 million trading volume after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved several spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Wednesday. The surge compares with December's daily average of $300,000 and surpassed even leading NFT marketplace OpenSea, which registered a trading volume of $3.9 million, according to data shared by PolyMarket on social media platform X. "Underrated winner of the Bitcoin ETF approval? Prediction markets. Polymarket did more volume than OpenSea today," said PolyMarket's repost of analysis by venture capital firm 1confirmation's Richard Chen. For full coverage of bitcoin ETFs, click here. Since its debut in 2020, PolyMarket has allowed investors to bet on the outcome of binary events like the spot ETF decision. Last month, the platform listed a contract, "Bitcoin ETF approved by Jan 15," which expired Wednesday, with the SEC greenlighting ETFs. Traders wagered more than $12 million throughout the contract's lifetime, with some participants buying the "No" side shares as a hedge against potential rejection. Other key performance metrics have picked up the pace with volumes, with the number of active users on the platform surging to 1,258 on Wednesday. The number of monthly active users is currently 2,754, the most since April 2022. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/01/11/bitcoin-etf-frenzy-brings-windfall-volume-to-decentralized-predictions-platform-polymarket/

2024-01-11 07:21

Finney, who died in August 2014, was also the first person besides Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, to download and run Bitcoin’s software. “Running bitcoin,” were the words of legendary cypherpunk Hal Finney on Jan. 11, 2009, shortly before becoming the first person to download and receive bitcoin (BTC) two days later. This tweet introduced the world to bitcoin, the then-niche internet token which would balloon into a trillion-dollar asset at its peak. On Wednesday, exactly 15 years after Finney’s tweet, bitcoin got its first spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Approved providers include financial giants BlackRock (BLK) and Fidelity, while crypto native fund Grayscale’s popular Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) has been uplisted as an ETF as well. Fees on these products range from zero for the first few months (at ARK, Bitwise and Invesco) to as much as 1.5% (at Grayscale). Finney, who died in August 2014, was also the first person besides Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, to download and run Bitcoin software. He also believed that bitcoin could grow very quickly. In an email sent to Nakamoto, Finney was one of the first to put a price on the token. Estimating a fraction of total global household wealth would spill into the project, and one day each of the 21 million coins could be worth $10 million. While bitcoin was originally supposed to be an anti-establishment play that operated far from traditional banking circles, its adoption on Wall Street means that the token is now positioned for widespread growth as an alternative asset. A regulated product will allow investors and funds to gain exposure to the token without the risks associated with setting up and managing a cryptocurrency wallet. As such, the green light from the SEC follows many years of delays and outright rejections of numerous attempts to launch spot bitcoin ETFs. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, co-founders of crypto exchange Gemini, filed their first application with the SEC to create a spot bitcoin ETF in 2013, which was promptly rejected then. Grayscale has tried to convert its trust to an ETF since 2017. Meanwhile, bitcoin prices hit as high as $47,500 early Thursday before retreating after the approvals, inching closer to their 2021 lifetime peak of $69,000. And while Finney isn’t around to see the apparent success of the magic internet money – his legacy will forever live on. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/01/11/bitcoin-etfs-secure-approval-exactly-15-years-after-hal-finneys-iconic-running-bitcoin-tweet/

2024-01-11 03:35

A decade after they were first proposed, spot bitcoin ETFs are finally launching in the U.S. Here's what's next. Spot bitcoin ETFs were finally approved in the U.S. after a tough decade of trying. The next step: Getting them trading Thursday morning. Following the Securities and Exchange Commission's green light Wednesday afternoon, the hotly anticipated products will debut on U.S. markets run by the NYSE, Cboe Global Markets and Nasdaq, aided by major trading firms who plan to provide liquidity. The buying and selling could technically start as early as 4 a.m. ET (09:00 UTC) since that's when U.S. stock exchanges open – not at the famous daily opening ceremonies held 5 ½ hours later. The products will let virtually any retail customer gain exposure to bitcoin's (BTC) price using their conventional brokerage apps and accounts, as well as let traditional financial institutions invest without needing to go through crypto exchanges. These ETFs give investors interested in digital assets more choices, said Cynthia Lo Bessette, head of digital asset management at Fidelity, one of the bitcoin ETF issuers. The latest products are different from the ones approved in 2021 in the U.S., bitcoin futures ETFs, which invest in derivatives, not the digital asset itself. For full coverage of bitcoin ETFs, click here. "We've long believed a spot-priced exchange traded-product would be an efficient way for investors to gain exposure to bitcoin," she said. "As a firm, we remain committed to meeting the growing demand from investors by providing them with tools that support their choices and facilitate secure access to markets." Similarly, a spokesperson for Cboe Global Markets said the ETFs would give investors "a transparent and regulated" way to track bitcoin's price. "The approval signifies a major step forward in establishing crypto as a tradeable asset class, paving the way for new trading opportunities." Liquidity pools With 11 spot bitcoin ETFs funds being offered – some of which have already lined up billions of dollars of assets going into the launch – liquidity providers and market makers spent the past months preparing for this day, making sure that the bitcoin market is – and stays – efficient with the new wave of interest coming in on Thursday. Bitcoin's spot market, bitcoin's futures markets and the bitcoin futures ETFs will all aid the spot ETFs' liquidity on day one, said NYSE Head of Exchange Traded Products Douglas Yones. NYSE also has a number of liquidity programs, he said. "For market makers that are out there – and we've got dozens of market makers that provide liquidity for our ETFs that are going to step in – they've had natural hedges available to them," he said. "We have a very nice price-discovery process that will happen at the New York Stock Exchange overnight all the way into the open, so we expect a pretty dynamic and liquid market tomorrow." Robert Mitchnick, the head of digital assets at BlackRock, told CoinDesk in an interview that the asset manager would use its partnership with Coinbase. The company integrated Coinbase Prime with its own portfolio management tool, Aladdin, in 2021. While he wouldn't speak to how much BlackRock had lined up in terms of assets under management at launch for its bitcoin ETF, he noted that the company had already disclosed a $100,000 seed investment. "As is public, there was a seed investment in the ETF that was made by BlackRock," he said. "One of the things that's really important to understand is we view this as a long process." No immediate rush David Mann, Franklin Templeton's head of ETF products and capital markets, told CoinDesk in an interview that it was difficult to predict just what inflows might look like in the first few days. While he expects "a ton of excitement" on day one, he said there may be a more gradual ramp up in interest and investments than people appreciate. "It wouldn't shock me if ETF users broadly who are now looking at getting some exposure to bitcoin within the ETF vehicle are going to go through their normal review process to make sure that they're comfortable with the ETF, and that often takes time," he said. There may be a "pop out of the gate," but investors may take weeks or months to become comfortable with the bitcoin ETF vehicle and verify that it is behaving in a way they would be willing to put money into, he said. BlackRock's Mitchnick echoed this point, saying it would be a "long journey" after the launch for investors. He pointed to wealth advisers as an example, saying they may be part of the largest investment channel for the ETF. Because they have not yet had much exposure to investment vehicles containing bitcoin, there would be "a journey of education" before they may allocate funds. "There'll be suitability conversations between advisers and clients," he said. "It's not something that is going to materialize right away out of the gate, and the same thing for institutional investors who hitherto have not really had viable exposure solutions." https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/01/11/bitcoin-etfs-what-to-expect-on-day-one/

2024-01-10 22:07

The SEC chair said a court forced his hand and that the agency's decision to greenlight a spot bitcoin ETF doesn't signal support of that or any other digital asset. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler conceded that the regulator's loss in court over rejecting Grayscale's application for a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) left it little recourse but to approve about a dozen such proposals Wednesday. Gensler called the approvals "the most sustainable path forward" in a statement issued just after the agency issued the decisions eagerly awaited by the crypto industry and investors. For full coverage of bitcoin ETFs, click here. "We did not approve or endorse bitcoin," Gensler said. "Investors should remain cautious about the myriad risks associated with bitcoin and products whose value is tied to crypto." In fact, he said that bitcoin "is primarily a speculative, volatile asset that’s also used for illicit activity including ransomware, money laundering, sanction evasion and terrorist financing." And Gensler sought to make it clear that these ETF sign-offs don't pave the way for any further action from the U.S. securities regulator. "It should in no way signal the commission’s willingness to approve listing standards for crypto asset securities," he said. "Nor does the approval signal anything about the commission’s views as to the status of other crypto assets under the federal securities laws or about the current state of non-compliance of certain crypto asset market participants with the federal securities laws." Bitcoin is the only digital asset that Gensler routinely acknowledges is not a security, maintaining that the vast majority of other tokens fit the legal definition of securities that are rightfully under the SEC's jurisdiction. Crenshaw's Dissent: 'A wayward path' Another of the five SEC commissioners, Caroline Crenshaw, dissented from the approvals. "They put us on a wayward path that could further sacrifice investor protection," she said in a statement. "I cannot agree that these actions serve either our statutory or foundational investor protection mandates." Commissioner Hester Peirce, a steady supporter of the crypto industry over the years, praised the decisions as "the end of an unnecessary, but consequential, saga." She said that "the only material change since we last denied a similar application was a judicial rebuke," referring to the SEC's loss against Grayscale in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/01/10/we-did-not-approve-or-endorse-bitcoin-gary-genslers-begrudging-etf-statement/