ProShares files for 5 Bitcoin ETFs with indirect exposure
ProShares, a major exchange-traded funds (ETF) distributor in the United States, is working on indirect BTC exposure to launch several bitcoin (BTC) ETFs in the first days of trading on local stock exchanges.
According to a Jan. 16 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), ProShares wants to launch leveraged and inverse Bitcoin ETFs. ETFs seek daily investment results based on the rise and fall of Bitcoin's price based on the daily performance of the Bloomberg Galaxy Bitcoin Index (BGCI).
ProShares Prospectus specifically proposes to launch five new Bitcoin ETFs, including the Plus Bitcoin ETF, Ultra Bitcoin ETF, UltraShort Bitcoin ETF, Short Bitcoin ETF and ShortPlus Bitcoin ETF.
The ProShares Plus Bitcoin ETF and the ProShares Ultra Bitcoin ETF seek investment results corresponding to a 1.5x and 2x increase in BGCI's daily performance, respectively.
The other three funds, ProShares UltraShort Bitcoin ETF, ProShares Short Bitcoin ETF and ProShares ShortPlus Bitcoin ETF, look for daily investment results based on BGCI's daily performance of -2x, -1x and -1.5x inverse. The currency does not directly short Bitcoin, Proshares emphasized in the file, which wants to benefit from the decrease in the price of Bitcoin.
At the time of the record, Bitcoin was trading around $43,000, a sharp decline following the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States. The market may experience short-term selling as some industry investors look to cash in on positive news, as ARK Invest CEO Kathy Wood previously predicted.
The filing comes just days after the US SEC approved the first 10-position Bitcoin ETF on January 10, with the first trades on January 11. ProShares was not one of the issuers behind the first wave of Bitcoin ETFs, though.
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ProShares, a company that specializes in futures-based crypto ETFs, launched the first Bitcoin futures-linked ETFs in the United States in October 2021. In January 2024, assets under management (AUM) briefly reached $2 billion for the first time.
In addition to BITO, ProShares currently offers the Ether Strategy ETF (EETH), the Bitcoin & Ether Market Cap Weight Strategy ETF (BETH), and the Bitcoin & Ether Equal Weight Strategy ETF (BETE).
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