Vaneck Files for Bitcoin Futures ETF Following SEC Chair’s BTC Futures Regulation Statements

Following a number of statements this week from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Gary Gensler, wealth management firm Vaneck has filed for a bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Vaneck Files for a Bitcoin Futures-Focused Fund Called the Bitcoin Strategy ETF

On August 10, the wealth manager Vaneck filed an application with the SEC in order to list the “Bitcoin Strategy ETF,” a fund that seeks “capital appreciation.” The fund will be an actively managed ETF that leverages bitcoin futures, pooled investment vehicles, and other ETFs that provide exposure to bitcoin (BTC).

The latest Vaneck bitcoin ETF filing stresses: “The Fund does not invest in bitcoin or other digital assets directly.” The Bitcoin Strategy ETF will utilize bitcoin futures under the laws of the Cayman Islands, and it may also invest in “ETFs listed and traded in Canada, and exchange-traded products that provide exposure to bitcoin through the subsidiary.”

Vaneck currently commands $63 billion in assets under management (AUM) and has been involved with bitcoin (BTC) for quite some time. At the end of June, Vaneck applied with the U.S. regulator to launch a bitcoin mutual fund, and the company is also hoping for approval for another bitcoin ETF that was filed back in December 2020.

Vaneck is further shooting to provide an ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded fund as well. Last week, SEC Chair Gary Gensler outlined the regulator’s plans to regulate crypto assets and discussed crypto ETFs. Gensler’s statements seemed optimistic in regard to crypto ETFs when he said he looks “forward to the staff’s review of such filings, particularly if those are limited to these CME-traded bitcoin futures.”

Investment Company Act of 1940 and Current Bitcoin Futures Regulations Could Bolster a Futures-Centric Crypto Fund

Vaneck executive Gabor Gurbacs tweeted about the ETF filing on Tuesday and noted the company was the “first to file for a futures-based bitcoin ETF in 2017.” Members of the industry believe that CME’s bitcoin futures have been regulated for quite some time and because of Gensler’s latest statements, a bitcoin futures ETF may see the first approval.

When Gensler said he looks forward to regulators reviewing ETFs that are particularly associated with bitcoin futures, he mentioned the U.S. Investment Company Act of 1940 as possibly being sufficient enough for regulation.

Vaneck’s Bitcoin Strategy ETF explains that the fund is a “non-diversified fund under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the ‘1940 Act’), and, therefore, may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a particular issuer.” Gensler has also written a letter to U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren in regard to her concerns over cryptocurrency regulation.