ARK Invest In Partnership With 21Shares Join The List Of Companies Filing For Bitcoin ETF Despite SEC Reluctance

The article has been updated. 

Cathie Wood-led ARK Invest has applied for a Bitcoin ETF in partnership with 21Shares, an SEC filing shows.

What Happened: The Monday filing revealed that 21Shares alongside ARK Invest applied for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, joining the long list of companies, including VanEck, Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust, and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust GBTC.

According to the official document, the trust intends to provide an opportunity "to access the market for bitcoin through a traditional brokerage account without the potential barriers to entry or risks involved with holding or transferring bitcoin directly or acquiring it from a bitcoin spot market."

"The Trust will custody its bitcoin at a regulated third-party custodian, Coinbase Custody Trust Company, LLC (“Coinbase Custody” or the “Custodian”)," the filing says.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been relentlessly denying BTC ETF applications since as early as 2013.

The Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust was the first company ever to try, and consequently, to be rejected.

Last week, the Commission delayed Van Eck's second application seeking more information on how this decision would "affect the markets."

Read also: Bitcoin ETF Proposals: The SEC's Long History Of Rejections

VanEck's CEO remained optimistic and said the SEC would eventually approve the ETF as “the only alternative investors have is a closed-end fund that trades it at a 40% premium or 20% discount,” allegedly hinting at Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.

What Else: Cathie Wood has been a cryptocurrency enthusiast for a long time, suggesting earlier this year that Bitcoin price could go as high as $500,000.

In May, Wood said it's “impossible [for regulators] to shut [bitcoin] down,” adding that, in her opinion, regulators will warm up and become “a little more friendly over time” towards cryptocurrencies. 

The investor also believes Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will soon become a part of the classic portfolio along with stocks and bonds.

“We’ve been through a 40-year bull market in bonds. We would not be surprised to see this new asset class become a part of those percentages. Maybe 60% in equity, 20% in bonds, and 20 –– in crypto,” Wood said in March.

Price Action: Bitcoin was trading at $34,234 at press time, up as little as 0.30% over the past 24 hours.