Fidelity, one of the largest financial institutions in the world, is seeking approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a Bitcoin ETF, according to a new filing with the SEC.
The exchange-traded fund, which would allow retail investors to bet on the price of Bitcoin without the need to buy and store the cryptocurrency themselves, would be registered as the Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust. Fidelity Service Company Inc would serve as the administrator, and Fidelity Digital Assets would custody the physical Bitcoin underlying the ETF, should it be approved.
The SEC has yet to approve a Bitcoin ETF, though plenty of companies have filed for one. Gemini, the crypto services company owned by the Winklevoss twins, has filed for multiple Bitcoin ETFs since 2013. Anthony Scaramucci’s SkyBridge Capital just filed for one, and the asset manager VanEck has been trying to launch one for years.
Cryptocurrency investors have been clamoring for a Bitcoin ETF, and firms like Grayscale and Galaxy Digital offer similar crypto investment products that attempt to fill that need. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) now has over $36 billion in Bitcoin under management, though it’s trading at a premium of -12%.
This proposed ETF isn’t Fidelity’s first foray into the world of crypto—last year, the bank launched its first Bitcoin-only investment product in the form of the Wise Origin Bitcoin Index Fund I.
In a recent statement, Fidelity’s Director of Global Macro said Bitcoin has a “unique advantage over gold.”