ProShares, a major issuer of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States, is working to launch several Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs with indirect BTC exposure amid the first days of spot Bitcoin ETF trading on local stock exchanges.
According to a Jan. 16 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), ProShares wants to launch leveraged and inverse Bitcoin ETFs. The ETFs seek daily investment results from Bitcoin price increases and decreases based on the daily performance of the Bloomberg Galaxy Bitcoin Index (BGCI).
ProShares’ prospectuses specifically propose to launch five new Bitcoin ETFs, including Plus Bitcoin ETF, Ultra Bitcoin ETF, UltraShort Bitcoin ETF, Short Bitcoin ETF and ShortPlus Bitcoin ETF.
ProShares Plus Bitcoin ETF and ProShares Ultra Bitcoin ETF seek daily investment results corresponding to a 1.5x and 2x increase from the daily performance of BGCI, respectively.
The other three funds, ProShares UltraShort Bitcoin ETF, ProShares Short Bitcoin ETF and ProShares ShortPlus Bitcoin ETF, seek daily investment results based on the inverse of the daily performance of the BGCI of -2x, -1x and -1.5x, respectively. The funds do not directly short Bitcoin, ProShares stressed in the filing, adding that it seeks to benefit from decreases in the price of Bitcoin.
At the time of filing, Bitcoin was trading at around $43,000, seeing a significant decline following the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States. Some industry investors like ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood previously predicted that the market is likely to face a short-term sell-off due to some investors looking to cash out amid positive news.
The filling comes a few days after the U.S. SEC approved the first 10 spot Bitcoin ETFs on Jan. 10, with the first trades debuting on Jan. 11. ProShares was not one of the issuers behind the first wave of spot Bitcoin ETFs though.
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ProShares firm has been focused on futures-based crypto ETFs, launching one of the first Bitcoin futures-linked ETFs in the U.S. in October 2021. Its flagship BTC futures-based product, Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), has seen significant growth over the past few months, briefly reaching $2 billion in assets under management (AUM) for the first time in January 2024.
Apart from BITO, ProShares also currently offers Ether Strategy ETF (EETH), Bitcoin & Ether Market Cap Weight Strategy ETF (BETH) and Bitcoin & Ether Equal Weight Strategy ETF (BETE).
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