Asset Manager One River Files for Carbon-Neutral Bitcoin ETF in US

One River Digital Asset Management has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) that would be carbon neutral.

• According to the S-1 filing, submitted on Monday, the One River Carbon Neutral Bitcoin Trust would be listed on the New York Stock Exchange and would buy and dispose of carbon credits to account for the emissions associated with the bitcoin in the fund.
• To that end, One River says it has inked a deal with a Uruguay-based firm doing business as Moss Earth to purchase blockchain tokens representing certified reductions in carbon emissions.
• Each of the MCO2 tokens is aimed to represent a claim on a certified carbon credit held in a pool of carbon credits held by Moss Earth on a registry with Verra.
• No ticker has been announced for the ETF so far, which has been registered as a Delaware statutory trust since April 27.
• The trust will not purchase or sell bitcoin directly, per the filing, and instead, will use third parties to provide the digital assets through “in-kind” transactions via the selling and redeeming of shares.
• Coinbase Custody has partnered as the custodian for the ETF's bitcoin assets.
• Former SEC Chair Jay Clayton is an adviser at One River, having joined the firm's Academic and Regulatory Advisory Council in March 2021.
• The proposed bitcoin ETF – which looks aimed to appease investors' anxiety about the carbon emissions associated with bitcoin mining – joins a deep bench of ETF proposals before the SEC, including one from VanEck.

Also read: SEC Staff Calls Bitcoin ‘Highly Speculative,’ Hints at ETF Skepticism