Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital Joins Growing List of Bitcoin ETF Contenders

While the SEC has yet to approve a Bitcoin ETF in the US, there are now eight high-profile firms seeking approval to launch one.

2 min read

Apr 12, 2021

Cryptocurrency investment firm Galaxy Digital has filed for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF)—the eighth company hoping for approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The application, filed today, is asking the SEC for an ETF to run in the NYSE Arca, an exchange on which both stocks and options are traded.

An ETF allows investors to buy and sell shares that represent the value of an underlying asset continually throughout the day. A Bitcoin ETF, then, would allow investors to buy shares that represent the digital asset. In other words, it’s a way to bet on the price of Bitcoin without the need to buy and store the cryptocurrency itself.

A Bitcoin ETF doesn’t exist in the US yet but seven other companies are awaiting approval from the SEC.

“The Sponsor [Galaxy Digital] believes that the Trust will provide a cost-efficient way for Shareholders to implement strategic and tactical asset allocation strategies that use bitcoin by investing in the Shares rather than purchasing, holding and trading bitcoin directly,” the application reads.

Galaxy is a major New York-based crypto investment firm headed-up by billionaire Bitcoin bull, Mike Novogratz. It manages over $400 million in assets.

Along with Galaxy Digital, Anthony Scaramucci’s SkyBridge Capital, the New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG), and ETF provider VanEck are some of the other companies that have applied for the product.

But the SEC has repeatedly rejected applications for a Bitcoin ETF in the US, citing concerns over manipulation of the market.

Bitcoin ETFs do exist elsewhere, though. The world’s first Bitcoin ETF got approval in Bermuda last year.

And in Canada, the products have been very popular. Right now, there are three Bitcoin ETFs trading there, which hold a total of 16,600 Bitcoin ($992 million) between them.

When the first one, Purpose Bitcoin ETF, launched (the first Bitcoin ETF in North America), it traded $80 million in its first hour—more than many ETFs do in an entire week.

The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.

Get crypto news straight to your inbox--

sign up for the Decrypt Daily below. (It’s free).

Get Email!

7 Massive Games From 2024 Worth Playing Over the Holiday Break

For many of us, the upcoming holiday break means having a lot of time on our hands. We're at home with the family, off work or school, and we can only stand so many Christmas movies, so many cookies, and so much time with our beloved family members. Instead of looking for a million little ways to distract ourselves or doomscrolling on our phones, why not look for a single game to invest time in? The following games will each provide you with dozens of hours of fun, and the only regret you'll...

5 Weirdest Tech Trends of 2024: From AI Lovers to Brain Hacking

People engaging in toxic romances with AI chatbots. A tech billionaire that injects his teenage son's blood plasma into his veins while degens bet on his nighttime erections as part of his quest for immortality. A 3D-printed sarcophagus that kills you for the low, low cost of $20. All this and much much more, in just 365 days. “Forget artificial intelligence—in the brave new world of big data, it's artificial idiocy we should be looking out for,” the tech philosopher Tom Chatfield once said. The...

GG’s 2024 Game of the Year: Off the Grid

Off the Grid has only been available for a couple months, but it's by far the best crypto game of the year—and it’s not even really close. If we're talking pure numbers, then Hamster Kombat blew most games out of the water by racking up 300 million players this summer. But the monotonous tap-to-earn mini app ultimately felt like a financialized gimmick thinly veiled as a game, and the resulting airdrop hardly justified the hype. As for Off the Grid, the game impressed both Web2 and Web3-native g...

News

Courses

Deep Dives

Coins

Videos