BlockFi Files For Bitcoin Futures ETF

The BlockFi Bitcoin Strategy ETF would only invest in bitcoin futures contracts traded on the CME.

• Lending platform BlockFi is the latest to join the bitcoin futures ETF race with a new registration intention filed with the SEC today.
• ETF analysts are optimistic that the commission will approve as many as four BTC futures ETFs in October.
• The BlockFi Bitcoin Strategy ETF is the last on a queue at the SEC desk, with ProShares up first on the list.

Bitcoin lending platform BlockFi wants to offer a bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S., a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows. The firm is the latest to join a race that analysts believe could produce some harvest this month.

Bloomberg reported that its ETF analysts are “very bullish on approval” of a bitcoin futures ETF in October, with as many as four offerings likely to receive the SEC green light. BlockFi’s ETF could be the fifth, but it is unlikely to receive approval before ProShares, Valkyrie, VanEck, or Galaxy, all of which filed first.

Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, tweeted the company’s latest analysis of bitcoin futures ETFs filings and their odds of being approved. ProShares leads the list, followed by Valkyrie.

The BlockFi Bitcoin Strategy ETF is seeking registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940. The fund would invest in cash-settled futures contracts traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), short-duration fixed income securities, and cash or cash equivalent investments, according to the October 8 filing.

“The fund seeks to invest in bitcoin futures so that the total value of the bitcoin to which the fund has economic exposure is equal to approximately 100% of the net assets of the fund,” per the filing. But the exposure to bitcoin futures will be indirect through investments in a wholly-owned subsidiary organized under the laws of the Cayman Islands.

BlockFi will list its Bitcoin Strategy ETF on the Cboe BZX Exchange and be advised by Exchange Traded Concepts, LLC, which will have overall responsibility for the general management and administration of the fund.