Well, after all the wait and drama surrounding the Bitcoin ETF, the US SEC has finally announced that it is beginning the process of reviewing Bitcoin ETF applications again and has picked up the Bitwise application for initial review.


SEC publishes Bitwise proposal in Fed Register on Feb 15

Are we in sight of a Bitcoin ETF? Well, there is every possibility as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced it is moving forward with its process for the ETF approval and beginning to review the Bitcoin ETF rule change proposal filed by NYSE Arca and Bitwise Asset Management on Feb. 11. The proposal itself was published in the Federal Register on Feb. 15, starting the countdown of 45 days which SEC has to make its initial decision on whether to approve, reject or extend the proposal.

Even though NYSE Arca and Bitwise had filed the application at the start of 2019, there was no way ahead because of the US government shutdown. But all seemed to back on track now as the Federal Register has been amended on February 15th, 2019 marks the start of the much-awaited process.

The process of approval is still lengthy and has several roadblocks, Bitwise Bitcoin ETF has generated quite a lot of hype of being different which could get a nod from the SEC. The proposed ETF gets its valuation from physically settled Bitcoin futures contracts, something that has never been proposed before.

Bitwise’s global head of Exchange-Traded Funds John Hyland remains hopeful that the SEC will approve their Bitcoin ETF. His confidence is clearly visible when he was quoted saying


“While there can be no assurance that the 19b-4 application will be granted or the SEC will review and ultimately accelerate the registration statement, we are optimistic that 2019 should be the year that a bitcoin ETF launches.”

Bitwise was recently founded in 2017 and is headquartered in San Francisco. The firm’s team is made up of professionals with decades of asset management experience. Some of the firm’s members come from backgrounds such as Facebook, Wealthfront, BlackRock, NYLife Investments, IndexIQ, US Commodity Funds, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and ETF.com.

The company has also pioneered the first cryptocurrency index fund and is the leading provider of rules-based exposure to the crypto asset space. Together, the firm features 4 best-in-class crypto indexes: Bitwise 10 Large Cap, Bitwise 20 Mid Cap, Bitwise 70 Small Cap, and Bitwise 100 Total Market. While many firms have attempted this previously, Bitwise has meticulously designed to follow a clear-set rule base that takes various factors into account

Will Bitwise ETF find the holy grail and be the first US SEC approved Bitcoin ETF? Do let us know your views on the same.

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