ETFs
Spot Ether ETFs Are Coming, With SEC Decision Expected Soon
The next round of filings for spot ether ETFs with the SEC are due today, as part of the ongoing regulatory process required before spot ether ETFs can launch. But approval could come as soon as this week or next. It’s an interesting time for cryptocurrency enthusiasts: Ethereum is 25% off its March high, and bitcoin is 23% below its 52-week high in March. One thing’s for sure: This year’s bitcoin spot ETF launch has been a success. How do you know? Here’s how: In the first half of a typical year, most ETF inflows are into simple passive index funds, like the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ). That’s still true for this year, but two of the top 10 ETF flows of the year so far have been into spot bitcoin ETFs: iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) at number four, and Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust (FBTC) at number eight. Top 10 ETF Inflows YTD Vanguard S&P 500 (VOO) $44.2 billion iShares Core S&P 500 (IVV) $33.2 billion Invesco QQQ (QQQ) $19.3 billion iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) $17.7 billion Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTI) $17.5 billion iShares Core US Aggregate Bond (AGG) $9.8 billion SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 (SPLG) $9.7 billion Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust (FBTC) $9.2 billion Blackrock US Equity Factor Rotation (DYNF) $8.9 billion Vanguard Growth (VUG) $7.7 billion Source: ETF Store Second, spot Bitcoin ETFs have attracted approximately $15 billion in total inflows since their launch. By any measure, this is a successful launch for a niche product. Grayscale, which had a pre-existing fund converted to an ETF, saw some outflows, but these were more than offset by significant inflows into other major players like iShares, Fidelity, ARK, and Bitwise: Spot Bitcoin ETF (assets under management) iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) $18.4 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) $16.3 billion Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust (FBTC) $10.1 billion ARK Invest/21Shares (ARKB) $2.8 billion Bitwise Bitcoin Trust (BITB) $2.3 billion Other $2 billion Total: $51.8 billion Source: ETF Store What can we expect from the launch of spot ether? What would be a win? Would 50% of the inflows into the Spot Bitcoin ETF be a win? Twenty-five percent? We’ll be talking about this with Matt Hougan of Bitwise Asset Management, one of the candidates for a Spot Ether ETF. Matt is our guest today on ETF Edge at 12:35pm ET live and streaming from 1:10pm-1:30pm ET on ETFEdge.cnbc.com. Matt is also joined by Nate Geraci of the ETF Store.