The race to list the first bitcoin exchange-traded fund has intensified in recent months even as regulators balk at the notion of crypto-backed funds. The Chicago-based exchange is confident that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will eventually approve a rule change that would pave the way for the first bitcoin ETF. Concannon took a balanced approach in explaining both the opportunities and challenges of listing a bitcoin ETF.
Unlike other bitcoin ETF applications, the VanEck/SolidX proposal plans to back the fund with physical bitcoin rather than track the digital currency through the futures market.
The chief executive officer of crypto startup Amun Technologies Hany Rashwan says “The SEC is likely to delay until February of 2019 and the chances of a Bitcoin ETF approval in 2018 have always been low,”
