Grayscale, VanEck and ARK Bitcoin ETFs Register to Trade on Exchanges

Grayscale, VanEck, and ARK, three firms vying to offer a spot Bitcoin ETF in the U.S., have gotten approval for their funds to trade on their respective exchanges.

The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, a Bitcoin investment vehicle for accredited investors, currently trades as a commodity investment product on the OTCQX under the GBTC ticker. It’s now been approved to trade on the NYSE Arca if Grayscale’s bid to convert the trust to a spot Bitcoin ETF is approved. And the VanEck Bitcoin Trust would trade under the Chicago Board Options Exchange (which goes by Cboe). Ark, which teamed up with fund manager 21Shares for its ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, would trade on the Cboe if it’s approved to be offered to investors.

To be clear: This is just a bit of required paperwork. It’s certainly a positive sign that the exchanges have approved the Bitcoin ETFs to trade, but no issuer has received the all-important green light from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The industry has been buzzing at the possibility of a Bitcoin ETF getting approved. If it does, U.S. investors would be able to gain exposure to Bitcoin without the need to buy and custody the asset directly.

Financial institutions have been applying to offer one for the past 10 years, but the SEC has rejected all prior applications saying that such a product would present too big a risk to investors.

Given the stakes, routine filings from the likes of Grayscale, ARK, and VanEck, especially a week away from the next deadline for the SEC to make a decision on Bitcoin ETF applications, add fuel to the hype fire.

The new registrations follow a similar filing from Fidelity yesterday for its Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust. It would appear that the issuers are getting everything in order so they’re ready when (and if) the word comes down that their BTC fund has been approved for trading.

There’s no official word yet from potential Bitcoin ETF issuers or the SEC, but there have been rumblings.

Just yesterday unnamed sources told Fox Business that the securities regulator met with exchanges—like Nasdaq, CBOE, and New York Stock Exchange—suggesting that the SEC could be prepping these exchanges for eventual Bitcoin ETF listings. Early on Wednesday, a Bitcoin flash crash sent the price plummeting below $42,000 after digital asset manager Matrixport published a bearish report speculating that the SEC will reject all pending Bitcoin ETF applications.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin has largely recovered from the scare. It’s currently changing hands for $44,163, according to CoinGecko.

Edited by Guillermo Jimenez.