If you thought that the US financial markets regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had a lot on its plate and that’s why it was taking longer to approve a Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund, then it has become even crazier now. This week, another ETF got published by the SEC meaning that there is even more work for the SEC commissioners than before. Filed by the Crescent Crypto Index Services, a subsidiary of benchmarking and passive index investing firm Crescent Crypto Asset Management, the new application is seeking a license to offer an ETF product based on both Bitcoin and Ethereum, the first and second largest networks by market value.
The proposed ETF will track the performance of a market capitalization-weighted portfolio for both digital assets. If approved the ETF, dubbed the USCF Crescent Crypto Index Fund, will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol “XBET”. The fund is sponsored courtesy of the United States Commodity Funds LLC (USCF).
Documents filed with the SEC describe the proposed ETF as follows:
XBET is an exchange-traded fund. This means that most investors who decide to buy or sell shares of XBET place their trade orders through their brokers and may incur customary brokerage commissions and charges. Shares of XBET are expected to trade on the NYSE Arca under the ticker symbol “XBET” and will be bought and sold throughout the trading day at bid and ask prices like other publicly traded securities.
In a press release shared by Crescent, its co-founder Christopher Matta said that:
Crescent’s mission is to create innovative investment solutions that make cryptocurrencies accessible to mainstream investors. USCF has a robust ETP infrastructure and a history of pioneering alternative asset funds. This makes them the ideal partner to accomplish that mission through a differentiated product, which offers better diversification than Bitcoin alone.
USCF President and CEO John Love reciprocated the kind words from Crescent and said:
We consider it a privilege to build a relationship with Crescent. Their team possesses an incredible depth of market knowledge and their indices and insights are a benefit to investors following the cryptocurrency markets. We look forward to leveraging their expertise as we develop and launch exciting new products.
The SEC was initially sitting on a couple of Bitcoin ETF applications, one from BitWise Asset Management in collaboration with NYSE Arca and another by VanEck and SolidX, in partnership with Cboe BZX Exchange. The decision either to approve or reject the applications was postponed from March to May with a chance for further postponement. Now there are three applications under consideration. If the applications meet the commission’s concerns, there could be three Bitcoin-related ETFs and one associated with Ethereum before the end of the year.
