Bitcoin ETFs get SEC Approval

After years of anticipation, speculation, and setbacks, the big day is here. On Wednesday, January 10th the SEC approved 11 spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs). During the last year Bitcoin is up over 130% and I believe part of that was driven by anticipation of SEC approval for these ETFs. In the 2 days since the big announcement we have seen a bit of a sell-off as the price of BTC dropped from around $46,500 to $43,650. I'd say that was some savvy investors taking their profits from the gains of the last year.

So you may ask "What is a spot Bitcoin ETF, and how is it different than other Bitcoin investment options that were already available?" Well, essentially spot Bitcoin products give investors a way to have exposure to Bitcoin without directly owning it. ETFs track the underlying asset, in this case Bitcoin, and should rise in value when the underlying asset price rises. Other ETFs have been around for decades, tracking other commodities, such as gold, silver, oil, wheat, etc. While there were already other Bitcoin related products available to investors, they typically tracked Bitcoin futures (via derivative contracts).

Here is a complete list of the 11 ETFs approved by the SEC as of 1/10/2024:

• ARKB - ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF

• BITB - Bitwise Bitcoin ETF

• BRRR - Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund

• BTCO - Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF

• BTCW - WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund

• DEFI - Hashdex Bitcoin ETF

• EZBC - Franklin Bitcoin ETF

• FBTC - Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust

• GBTC - Grayscale Bitcoin Trust

• HODL - VanEck Bitcoin Trust

• IBIT - Blackrock's iShares Bitcoin Trust

I have to give some credit for VanEck snagging the HODL ticker symbol. Very clever!