A leading provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and the USA’s top provider of Bitcoin-linked ETFs, ProShares, revealed plans to launch the first short Bitcoin-linked ETF in the US on June, 21st, 2022.
The ProShares Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITI) allows investors to profit from drops in Bitcoin’s price or hedge their cryptocurrency exposure through the convenience of an ETF.
BITI was created to help investors overcome the difficulty of obtaining brief exposure to Bitcoin, which may be time-consuming and costly for many.
“As recent times have shown, Bitcoin can drop in value,” said ProShares CEO Michael L. Sapir.
“BITI affords investors who believe that the price of Bitcoin will drop with an opportunity to potentially profit or to hedge their cryptocurrency holdings. BITI enables investors to conveniently obtain short exposure to Bitcoin through buying an ETF in a traditional brokerage account.”
The BITI is designed to deliver the inverse (opposite) of the S&P CME Bitcoin Futures Index’s performance. It aims to attain its goal on each investment day and for no longer than that. Bitcoin futures contracts are being used by BITI to get exposure.
ProFunds, ProShares’ linked mutual fund provider, aims to introduce Short Bitcoin Strategy ProFund (BITIX) on 21st June for investors who prefer a mutual fund. The investment goal of the BITIX mutual fund will be the same as that of BITI.
ProShares introduced BITO, the first Bitcoin-linked ETF in the United States, in October 2021, and it gathered more than $1 billion in assets from the public in just two days. As a result, it became the most successful ETF launch in history.
In July 2021, ProFunds launched the first Bitcoin-linked mutual fund, BTCFX.
“With the additions of BITI and BITIX, ProShares and ProFunds will be the only fund families in the U.S. offering funds that allow investors to express their view on the direction of Bitcoin—no matter whether they believe the price will go up or down,” Sapir added.
Bitcoin-linked ETFs are becoming common in many countries. Recently, Australia became the latest addition to the list of growing countries with Bitcoin ETF when 3iQ Launched Two Crypto ETFs in Australia.
