Fidelity’s in-house bitcoin price index, per the filing.
“The Trust’s investment objective is to seek to track the performance of bitcoin, as measured by the performance of the Fidelity Bitcoin Index PR (the “Index”), adjusted for the Trust’s expenses and other liabilities,” the filing notes, explaining elsewhere:
“The Trust provides direct exposure to bitcoin, and the Shares of the Trust are valued on a daily basis using the same methodology used to calculate the Index. The Trust provides investors with the 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, acquiring it from a bitcoin spot market, or mining it.”
The fund’s name is similar to the Wise Origin Bitcoin Index Fund I, launched in August 2020 by Fidelity.
A new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission indicates that asset management giant Fidelity is seeking to create a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
The Wise Origin Bitcoin ETF is the latest entrant in a growing race to launch a bitcoin exchange-traded product in the United States. According to the filing, a firm called FD Funds Management LLC is the sponsor of the fund, with Fidelity Service Company, Inc. serving as administrator. Per the document, FD Funds Management LLC shares the same Boston, MA address as Fidelity’s office.
Fidelity Digital Assets, the asset manager’s crypto-focused arm, will serve as custodian.
Management giant for bitcoin
Eaglebrook Advisors, Inc has announced that Mariner Wealth Advisors will make its Bitcoin SMA product available for clients who want access to cryptocurrency.
According to the press release published Monday, Mariner Wealth Advisors–a national wealth advisory firm with more than $35 billion in assets under management–is allowing clients access to Eaglebrook’s Bitcoin SMA. The firm has been ranked in the top five RIAs by Barron’s for the last five years.
Eaglebrook, based out of Washington D.C., offers its Bitcoin SMA product to registered RIAs and financial advisors. The release claims the product allows advisors to allocate to bitcoin through a simple and secure process, in addition to providing trade execution and data aggregation.
Management giant for bitcoin miner
The only bitcoin futures in which the Funds may invest are cash-settled bitcoin futures traded on commodity exchanges registered with the CFTC.”
The documents also names two specific funds that will involve in BTC futures trading. These include theBlackRock Funds Vand the BlackRock Global Allocation Fund.
This is a big development as participation by giants like BlackRock shall further improve the legitimacy of Bitcoin (BTC) as a formidable asset class. However, the institutional space seems to be currently divided in their opinions on Bitcoin.
Earlier this week, wealth management giant UBS warned that cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin can go to zero.
On the other end, Barclays Private Bank chief market strategist Gerald Moser slammed Bitcoin calling it an “uninvestable” asset.
Speaking to Financial News.
The prominent asset management and investment firm Invesco submitted an application for a Bitcoin ETF to the SEC earlier this week.
The proposal for a Bitcoin ETF from Invesco is one of many to grace the desks of SEC members over the last year. According to their proposal, the investment objective is for the Invesco Bitcoin Strategy ETF (the “Fund”) to seek long-term capital appreciation.
Invesco lays out their strategy in the following way:
“The Fund is an actively managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing all or substantially all of its assets in exchange-traded futures contracts on bitcoin and Collateral investments”.
It explicitly stated the Invesco Fund will not invest in Bitcoin directly.
Global investment manager VanEck has filed for a mutual fund that invests in “certain” Bitcoin futures through its Cayman Islands-based subsidiary.
The “Bitcoin Strategy Fund” won’t have any exposure to the spot price of the flagship cryptocurrency:
The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, in bitcoin futures contracts (“Bitcoin Futures”), as well as pooled investment vehicles and exchange-traded products that provide exposure to bitcoin (together with Bitcoin Futures, “Bitcoin Investments”). The Fund does not invest in bitcoin or other digital assets directly.
The fund may also put some of its remaining assets into U.S. Treasuries, money market funds, municipal debt securities, and other investment vehicles.
Mosersaid:“While it is nigh on impossible to forecast an expected return for bitcoin, its volatility makes the asset almost ‘uninvestable’ from a portfolio perspective”.
“Many would probably throw the cryptocurrency out of any portfolio in a typical mean-variance optimization. The performance of the cryptocurrency has been mostly driven by retail investors joining a seemingly unsustainable rally rather than institutional money investing on a long-term basis,” he added.
In another positive development, President Joe Biden, in his first day in office, hasfreezedthe controversial regulation on “unhosted” cryptocurrency wallets passed by form Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
While former Federal Reserve chairperson Janet Yellen (also the nominee for next U.S.
In a massive development, world’s biggest asset management giant BlackRock has submitted documents to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking an potential entry to Bitcoin Futures trading.
TheSEC filingstates that BlackRock will only invest in cash-settled Bitcoin futures on exchanges that are registered with the CFTC. As on date, BlackRock manages more than $7.8 trillion in assets under management.
Besides, this is not the first attempt by BlackRock to venture in Bitcoin trading. Back in 2018, the company already formed a working group to consider whether it should move in Bitcoin futures trading.
The documents submitted by BlackRock to the SEC state: “Certain Funds may engage in futures contracts based on bitcoin.
Marty Bicknell, CEO and president of Mariner Wealth Advisors, said the Bitcoin SMA allows clients to supplement their overall wealth plan with crypto-assets.
He said,
Our desire to find new solutions is always driven by client need and we are looking forward to working with Eaglebrook on this new endeavor.
The release claims demand for bitcoin from financial advisors and clients has accelerated due to current trends, including “growth in investment demand from millennials and institutional investors.”
Christopher King, CEO of Eaglebrook Advisors, said he expects cryptocurrency adoption to increase in the future as the market matures, driving even greater demand.
Global investment manager VanEck has filed for a mutual fund that invests in “certain” Bitcoin futures through its Cayman Islands-based subsidiary.
The “Bitcoin Strategy Fund” won’t have any exposure to the spot price of the flagship cryptocurrency:
The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, in bitcoin futures contracts (“Bitcoin Futures”), as well as pooled investment vehicles and exchange-traded products that provide exposure to bitcoin (together with Bitcoin Futures, “Bitcoin Investments”). The Fund does not invest in bitcoin or other digital assets directly.
The fund may also put some of its remaining assets into U.S. Treasuries, money market funds, municipal debt securities, and other investment vehicles.
Many asset management firms, who are in the same position trying to create crypto ETFs, believe they are safer ways to enter the space. Due to the volatile nature of the crypto markets, new investors are often hesitant to join the action. However, these ETF proposals claim to be a good first step towards the crypto industry with less risk.
Crypto ETF Proposals On the Rise
Despite the SEC’s sluggish approval rate , crypto related ETFs keep piling in.
Invesco follows other big names such as Goldman Sachs, who recently filed an ETF proposal with the Commission. The Goldman Sachs proposal isn’t bitcoin related, rather it monitors the DeFi space.
