Why We Could See The First Approved U.S. Bitcoin ETF In October

Various investment funds have applied for Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. The number has grown as interest in crypto has been on the rise in recent months. A couple of countries so far have approved some crypto ETFs and investors can trade on these. However, the United States is yet to see the approval of its very first bitcoin ETF.

Speculations around the approval of a bitcoin ETF have been on the rise lately. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was expected to make a ruling on various Bitcoin ETFs that had been filed. But the regulator had moved up the date. In the case of VanEck, moving it by 60 days until the SEC would provide its decision on the Bitcoin ETF.

SEC Boss Clarifies Stance On Crypto

After SEC Chairman Gary Gensler announced that the regulatory body had no intention of banning bitcoin in the United States, investors began to expect the approval of a bitcoin ETF soon. The reasoning behind this being that the chairman would not go out of his way to provide information like this if there wasn’t good news in the future.

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It is expected that October will see the approval of the first bitcoin ETF in the country, which would enable investors to begin trading on Bitcoin Futures ETFs. Instead of having to trade on Canadian crypto ETFs.

In addition to the SEC’s stance on crypto regulation, a Canadian mutual fund with the same language as a bitcoin ETF had been previously approved by the regulation. This was put forward by asset manager James Seyffart, who believes that since the SEC had approved this mutual fund, then it would most likely approve an ETF that consisted of similar wording.

Bitcoin ETFs Getting Closer To Approval

Eric Balchunas, an ETF analyst for Bloomberg, took to Twitter to point out some events that may signal that the first bitcoin ETF is close to being approved. The analyst pointed out that Valkyrie, a digital asset management firm, had updated their Bitcoin Futures ETF prospectus.

NOTABLE: Valkyrie just updated their bitcoin futures ETF prospectus (which typically only happens when ducks in row ready for launch). They added their ticker $BTF, altho no fee still. Can't say this is done deal type evidence but a good sign IMO. pic.twitter.com/GlQo4C1lBc

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) October 13, 2021

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Now, updates to ETFs are not a mundane thing. An update to a prospectus is only required when the regulators are close to approving it and the firm needs to make sure that the document contains the correct information. In addition to this update, Valkyrie had also updated added their ticker ($BTF) to the document.

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Balchunas notes that while this is a good sign, it does not mean that a bitcoin ETF is going to be approved. If anything, it means that the firms who submitted these ETFs are moving in the right direction towards getting approval. However, every launch is usually preceded by an update. “That’s what happens right before a launch, they fill in all the XXs and add ticker,” said the analyst.

Featured image from Coingape, chart from TradingView.com