The Securities and Exchange Commission formally recognized VanEck’s bitcoin ETF proposal just two weeks ago, starting the countdown on its 45-day approval schedule.
But seeing an ETF bitcoin approved in the next 30 days is not as likely, according to Todd Rosenbluth, head of ETF and mutual fund research at CFRA Research.
The SEC is more likely to extend its timeline, he told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” on Monday.
“We have a number of companies that have either gone through the filing process or have filed, but are waiting for more clarity,” said Rosenbluth. “The SEC is less likely to try to pick a winner, we think, as to who comes first and we’re more likely to see – if they approve any ETF – to approve a number of bitcoin-related ETFs. We have several companies entered and we think we’ll probably see one in the next one or two years, but we don’t have a set deadline of when the answer would be yes.
Joining the list of possible bitcoin ETF issuers is grayscale. The investment firm said on Monday that it was “100% committed” to converting its grayscale Bitcoin Trust to an ETF. VanEck, Fidelity and Valkyrie Digital Assets are among the companies that have already placed orders.
With so much discussion around bitcoin, some may wonder if it could be worked on ETFs like VanEck’s new Social Sentiment ETF (BUZZ) because of the popularity of digital currency, but the answer is no, says Jamie Wise, founder of Buzz Indexes.
“There is a lot of discussion about bitcoin and other crypto-assets and tokens for buyers, but no, you shouldn’t expect to see any encryption on BUZZ,” he said in the same “ETF Edge” interview. “BUZZ is very clearly defined as exposure to U.S. large-cap stocks by sentiment and would not keep bitcoin or other crypto assets.”
Although you don’t find any crypto-assets in BUZZ, VanEck’s models track and analyze the sentiment around cryptocurrencies, “and we’ll see what happens in the future,” said Wise. “Maybe not at BUZZ. Maybe something else.”
In other areas of the ETF market, there is still an impulse to incorporate exposure to cryptography, despite regulatory limits.
Art Amador, co-founder and chief operating officer of EquBot and the man behind the Artificial Intelligence Powered ETF (AIEQ), said that while his fund cannot invest in bitcoin, it is important to enter the cryptographic ecosystem.
AIEQ does this through small-cap names, such as Silvergate Capital, which provides cash management services to digital currency companies, and Marathon Digital Holdings, a cryptocurrency mining company.
“We want investors to have exposure,” said Amador in the same interview with “ETF Edge”. “That said, we are also seeing a lot of regulatory headwinds, not only during the rush, but also globally.”
Still, he expects further increases in the ecosystem as headwinds subside.
Bitcoin’s price rose almost 1.5% on Monday, according to CoinMetrics.
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