It Looks Like The First Bitcoin Futures ETF Has A Ticker, Likely To Hit Markets Next Week

The price of Bitcoin BTC/USD hit $60,000 Friday for the first time in six months. The rising valuation could continue with news that a Bitcoin Futures ETF is on the way.

What Happened: Bloomberg added a ticker to a Bitcoin ETF to its data feed, signaling the strong likelihood that the first U.S. Bitcoin Futures ETF hits the market next week.

“Bloomberg’s data team in the process of adding the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF to the terminal,” Bloomberg’s James Seyffart reports.

The Bitcoin ETF from ProShares will trade with ticker BITO. The ETF lists a management fee of 0.95%, which Seyffart notes is less than half of the 2% currently charged by the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust GBTC, a popular Bitcoin investing option.

“This thing is going live next week. Either Monday or Tuesday," he said. The Bloomberg feed shows a date of Oct. 19.

Related Link: ETF Providing Investors Exposure To Companies Which Own Bitcoin Approved By SEC

Why It’s Important: Many companies have filed for Bitcoin ETFs over the years, only to be rejected by the SEC. 

It has become increasingly likely that Bitcoin ETFs will be approved, which could lead to a handful hitting the market next week and even more by the end of the year. ProShares could grab early first mover advantage and see strong inflows.

The lower management fee from BITO could be bad news for Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. GBTC, which trades similar to an ETF but is a trust, has amassed $37.3 billion in assets under management since launching in 2013.

GBTC shares are up 395% over the trailing 12 months and up over 38,0000% since launching in 2013.

Many ETF companies have launched funds that offer exposure to Bitcoin via mining companies or companies that hold Bitcoin on their balance sheet.

The Viridi Cleaner Energy Crypto-Mining & Semiconductor ETF RIGZ launched in July and has seen shares increase 55% since launching.

Price Action: BTC is trading at $60,163.80 at the time of writing.

Bitcoin passed Facebook Inc FB earlier this week to become the sixth-largest publicly traded company or cryptocurrency with a market cap of $1.14 trillion, according to AssetDash.com.