ProShares will launch its first bitcoin futures fund

ProShares saw the opportunity to invest in the first bitcoin BTCUSD, exchange-traded fund, marking a major milestone in the crypto sector as digital assets gain more mainstream adoption.

On Friday the firm submitted an amended filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission for a Bitcoin futures ETF, which carried all the hallmarks of a regulatory filing that sets the table for a launch soon, said Todd Rosenbluth, head of ETF and mutual fund research at CFRA, in a phone interview.

The filing for the Bitcoin Strategy ETF seems to point to a rollout of the fund on Monday or Tuesday, Rosenbluth speculated. The new ETF would end a yearlong push for approval of a Bitcoin ETF that started back in 2013 and has seen scores of applications rejected by the SEC.

The anticipation had been building for a Bitcoin Futures ETF after SEC Chairman Gary Gensler last year said he supported such a structure, which he says offers more investor protections than an ETF that is tied directly to physical bitcoin.

Bitcoin BTCUSD has seen its price surge in anticipation of the ETF, with the value of the world s no. 1 Bitcoin up to $61,000, in anticipation of a bitcoin ETF.

Some bitcoin professionals have made the case that using futures contracts for an ETF, rather than just using bitcoin directly, confers additional costs to the end user, which can be reduced by using the spot market. Futures are derivatives that are designed to allow investors to gain exposure to a commodity or commodity without owning it outright. However, futures contracts expire or roll monthly and must be repurchased, which can add costs in administering the fund, which are passed on to end users.

The ticker symbol for the ProShares offering is set to be BITO and the fund measures an expense ratio of 0.95%, which means that it will cost $9.50 annually for every $1,000 invested.

On top of the costs, underlying futures are not always tracking the underlying asset accurately.

There are likely to be more approvals on the way, with fund providers Valkyrie Investments, Invesco and VanEck likely to see futures-taxed funds approved by the SEC.