Cryptoverse: Next wave of US crypto ETFs already in the pipeline – Yahoo Finance
Written by Suzanne McGee
(Reuters) – What a difference a year can make.
Rewinding the clock to early January 2024, the asset management industry is wondering whether the long-awaited debut of the US Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund will live up to expectations of raising as much as $30 billion in its first fund. , who was watching me worriedly. year.
Now these issuers are unlocking the champagne.
The first wave of Bitcoin ETFs raised a whopping $65 billion in 2024, helping push the price of Bitcoin from $43,000 to over $100,000. The largest of these new products, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, has become the most successful debut in the ETF industry's 35-year history.
But crypto denizens believe that is just the beginning of the party.
Shortly after these products celebrated their first anniversary on January 10th, President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to become the president of cryptocurrencies, will be inaugurated for the second time, and crypto fans will be excited about the new gold of cryptocurrencies. It ignites what I believe is the coming of age. Digital asset class.
Applications for new and often novel crypto products are already piling up in regulators’ inboxes.
Joe McCann, founder and CEO of Digital Asset, said: “Everyone now realizes how much profit there is to be made and now that we have a new, friendlier government in place. There's no reason not to submit your best ideas to regulators.” Asymmetric, a Miami hedge fund.
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, a Biden cryptocurrency skeptic, was forced to approve the first spot Bitcoin ETF and similar Ethereum products after losing a court challenge, while He went on to warn that cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and plagued by fraud and manipulation. .
Paul Atkins, whom President Trump appointed to replace Gensler, is widely known as a supporter of digital assets.
As of late November, companies including VanEck, 21Shares, and Canary Capital had filed at least 16 applications to launch exchange-traded products that track crypto indexes and tokens such as Solana and Ripple's XRP. , capitalized on these expectations of an increasingly crypto-friendly trend in Washington. , according to SEC filings and industry sources.
Weight reduction regulations are expected
The push to launch the next wave of crypto products began in earnest in the weeks before the election, with many industry insiders predicting that regulation would remain in place regardless of whether President Trump or his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, won. I was hoping for some relief.
“As it takes months to gain regulatory approval and bring ETFs to market, many issuers are starting to make calculated bets that this year’s climate will be different and are putting their products on the table,” Matthew said. I wanted it to be ready for immediate use.” Siegel, head of digital asset research at VanEck, which aims to launch the Solana ETF in 2025, says:
In addition to XRP and Solana, the fourth and sixth largest coins by market capitalization, Canary has filed to launch products related to less widely held coins, Litecoin and HBAR, according to CoinGecko. This is shown in SEC filings.
“The final piece of the puzzle is who the new SEC chairman will be,” said Stephen McClurg, who led the launch of the Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund in January and later launched a new crypto asset management company, Canary. That's what we expected.” Capital in October. “Now the race begins,” he added.
But the impending crypto ETF gold rush is about more than just a commodity tied to a single coin. New derivative products are poised to debut within days of President Trump's inauguration, and new types of multi-asset and hybrid products are also on the waiting list.
Several issuers, including Calamos Investments, Innovator ETF, and First Trust, have filed new funds that utilize the recently launched Bitcoin ETF option to protect investors from losses in Bitcoin itself. The first of these products is scheduled to debut on January 22nd, according to the publisher.
Late last year, the SEC approved options on some Bitcoin ETFs, including BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, and gave CBOE Global Markets the green light to launch options tracking the CBOE Bitcoin US ETF Index. gave way to this batch of new ETFs.
In addition to a wide range of products in Europe, Federico Brocato, head of U.S. operations at digital asset management firm 21Shares, which has launched a U.S. Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF, said other new products include a basket of cryptocurrencies. He predicted that this could include exchange-traded funds that track a basket of cryptocurrencies, as well as exchange-traded funds that track a basket of cryptocurrencies. A combination of alternative assets such as Bitcoin and gold.
“Product innovation in the United States is still in its infancy,” he said.
Indeed, such novel products are still a gamble.
Bitcoin ETFs have outperformed, but the ETF launched in July related to Ether, the world's second-largest token, saw inflows of $12.8 billion compared to $12.8 billion, according to Paris-based TrackInsight. It's pointless. Bitcoin's price more than doubled in 2024, but Ether lagged behind, rising 53%.
Todd Thorne, an ETF analyst at broker-dealer Strategas, said the less widely held coins are still in their early stages, so the factors driving returns and volatility aren't necessarily clear.
Bitcoin and Ethereum futures and futures-based ETF trading have been around for several years in the U.S., but these are the only coins for which a futures market exists so far. Song said the existence of futures trading has given regulators confidence in the breadth and depth of both Bitcoin and Ether.
We also believe that Atkins is the most novel of the proposed products, given the potential risks as well as the lingering debate over whether these tokens are securities within the jurisdiction of the SEC. How quickly things will be adopted remains to be seen.
Still, regulatory uncertainty has not dampened the enthusiasm of the crypto asset management industry.
“The only limit to what products come out is human creativity,” Van Eck's Siegel said.
(Reporting by Suzanne McGee; Editing by Michelle Price and Rod Nickel)
