In Brief:
- ProShares’ Bitcoin Strategy ETF saw volume around $1 billion
- Within the first 20 minutes, investors traded $280 millions worth of shares
- Initial net asset value was $40 which rose to $42.15 and finally shares closed at $41.94.
Yesterday, the U.S. first Bitcoin futures ETF ProShares was launched. Within the first 20 minutes, investors traded $280 million’s worth of shares. By Tuesday evening, nearly $1 billion worth of shares had changed hands.
Earlier this month the US SEC had approved the ProShares ETF. Yesterday onwards it started trading on the New York Stock Exchange Arca under the ticker BITO.
In a bid to give investors exposure to Bitcoin, shares tied to its future price rose to $42.15 at one point, representing a 5.4% increase from the initial net asset value of $40. The shares closed at $41.94, representing a 4.85% increase.
Even though it didn’t reach $1 billion, it was close to it – Bloomberg figures show $994 million was traded. It became the second ETF to hit $1 billion after BlackRock’s Carbon Transition Readiness in April.
Observing the BITO’s performance on its opening day, Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas tweeted that ProShares’ ETF was arguably the largest in terms of “natural” or “grassroots interest”.
ETFs let institutional and retail investors access Bitcoin without having to purchase and store the Bitcoin themselves, which some investors find complicated.
However, there is one catch. This ETF is a futures ETF, which means that investors buy and sell shares that represent contracts to bet on Bitcoin’s price.
A bitcoin ETF is long-awaited by the crypto community and Wall Street investors. Whether it is physical Bitcoin or not, ProShares’ Bitcoin ETF has proven Wall Street investors’ appetite for bitcoin.
