The all-important bitcoin ETF saga continues and news about it have come back into the spotlight once again. After postponing the VanEck/SolidX bitcoin ETF proposal last month, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is set to make its final verdict on a pair of ProShares ETFs by Thursday.

For those not familiar with bitcoin ETFs, here’s a quick reminder – numerous companies have already filed with the SEC for the coveted bitcoin ETF license but none have been approved so far. The denial of the Winklevoss brothers’ proposal was widely publicized and various mainstream media sources have given extensive coverage to the story since then.

The seemingly inevitable approval of the bitcoin ETF would represent a massive step towards mass adoption and legitimization in the eyes of traditional financial institutions. Many within the crypto sphere are hopeful that the ETF would spark another price surge in the markets that have suffered a protracted slump with bitcoin price hovering just above the yearly low.

The ProShares ETF proposals have been originally submitted to the SEC back in December 2017, together with NYSE Arca. Back then, the company admitted that since the market is not matured, “there can be no assurance that an active trading market for bitcoin futures contracts will develop or be maintained.“

Should they get approved, the proposals will not be backed by any actual bitcoin holdings but would rather derive their value from BTC futures contracts and their performance on CBOE and CME exchanges. An American attorney Jake Chervinsky has commented on the ProShares saga on Twitter extensively, claiming that even if they would get approved, the repercussions would likely be minimal as neither of these ETFs would buy/sell/hold any actual BTC.

12/ As I mentioned above, the ProShares ETFs are entirely derivative-backed. That means they wouldn't buy, sell, or hold any actual bitcoin. The bull theory is that an ETF would make bitcoin available for institutional investors, but does it help if they only buy derivatives? — Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) August 17, 2018

This is why most crypto aficionados are still eagerly awaiting the SEC decision on the VanEck/SolidX bitcoin ETF, which is a physically-backed product. Even though the chances of the ProShares proposal going through are slim, the SEC decision will set the tone for the remainder of 2018. A string of bitcoin ETFs await their fate, with GranitShares being the next in line on September 15th.

2/ These ETFs are important: they're the first ones that the SEC will approve or deny in 2018 & will set the stage for others in coming months. Of course, nobody knows what the SEC will decide, but we can use their recent statements to figure out what factors they'll consider. — Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) August 17, 2018

One significant advantage that ProShares holds against the recently-denied Winklevoss bitcoin ETF is its track record. Compared to the relatively new and unregulated Gemini exchange, Proshares would work with respected and SEC-compatible CME and CBOE futures exchanges, while the company itself is among the biggest ETF providers, holding over $30 billion of assets.

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