AdvisorShares Files for Bitcoin Futures ETF

AdvisorShares, an investment management firm that offers a range of themed exchange-traded funds, has submitted an application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a bitcoin futures ETF.

• The AdvisorShares Managed Bitcoin ETF will invest “all or substantially all of its assets in exchange-traded futures contracts on bitcoin” and collateral, according to the filing.
• The Bethesda, Md.-based investment management firm said in the filing that it will not invest directly in bitcoin.
• Morgan Creek Capital will serve as the Fund’s sub-adviser, using its research and other resources to help guide the Fund’s investment strategies.
• In remarks earlier this month, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler suggested he would look more favorably upon bitcoin ETFs that only trade bitcoin futures contracts.
• Investment firms VanEck and ProShares both withdrew their applications with the SEC for approval of ether futures ETFs, just two days after filing them, according to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas on Friday.
• There are over a dozen bitcoin ETF applications currently before the SEC, which has yet to approve one.