Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF might launch as early as July 2022, according to one of the company’s executives.
Grayscale‘s worldwide head of ETFs, David LaValle, gave a nine-month schedule for clearance by US authorities during a MarketWatch virtual event on Oct. 27.
Grayscale: Now’s the time to file for ETF
Grayscale, which administers the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), the world’s most popular Bitcoin investment product, underlined this month that it is “dedicated” to turning it into an ETF.
The timing for filing the application this week, according to LaValle, was optimal.“We thought it was the perfect time to submit our filing,” he said.
“We thought it was the perfect time to submit our filing,” he said.
ETF applications must go through a 240-day review process with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with approval possible by July.
Four ETFs were approved in October, all of which are based on Bitcoin futures rather than spots, which Grayscale and others want to modify.
As of Thursday, GBTC has $38.8 billion in assets under management (AUM), bringing the total AUM of all Grayscale funds to $53.1 billion.
JUST SAW ANALYSIS by a fund manager trader of the 1st futures roll date for the #bitcoin ETFs (they roll to new front-month contract). As many predicted, it’s not pretty–ETF investors face big tracking error. Add to that two flash crashes in #BTC price since ETF inception. Ugh— Caitlin Long (@CaitlinLong_) October 29, 2021
Arthur Hayes, former head of derivatives trading giant BitMEX, delivered a more scathing take on the entire ecosystem this week.
“There already exists a pseudo-ETF with over $40 billion in AUM, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). It is not technically an ETF, but it hoovered up assets nonetheless. Therefore, what is required is not a movement of AUM from one tracker product to another, but fresh capital into the system,” he wrote in a dedicated blog post.
“When GBTC is added to the mix of US-listed tracker products, will there actually be net new demand from retail traders and institutions who aren’t already invested in the space? I fear that the narrative on institutional and retail investors plowing AUM into the complex might be misplaced, as those who want to be involved largely already are.”
Markets have had years to price in the possibility of an ETF launch, with multiple SEC denials driving the Bitcoin price lower and lower over time.
