Israel’s securities regulator granted approval for six investment houses to launch hedge funds tracking Bitcoin’s BTC/USD price on New Year’s Eve, local media reported Wednesday.
What Happened: The funds are all set to launch on Dec. 31, the last trading day of the year, after getting the regulatory go-ahead from the Israel Securities Authority, according to financial news platform Calcalist and Globes.
Some funds will align with BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF IBIT while others will follow the index launched by S&P or the Chicago Stock Exchange. One fund plans to adopt an active strategy, aiming to outperform Bitcoin’s price performance.
The funds will be offered by Ayalon, IBI, Meitav, More, Migdal Capital Markets, and Phoenix, with management fees in the range of 0.25%-1.25%.
The launch of Bitcoin mutual funds and ETFs is a result of persistent lobbying and requests by investment houses to the Securities Authority over the past two years, the report mentioned. The regulator only granted final approval last week, on the condition that all investment houses launch the products simultaneously.
The Israel Securities authority didn’t immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for confirmation.
Why It Matters: The rise of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds has been reshaping institutional engagement with digital assets. Experts at the recent Benzinga Future of Digital Assets conference expressed consensus that ETFs removed barriers that once deterred traditional investors from entering the cryptocurrency market.
Furthermore, a leading Bloomberg analyst, Eric Balchunas, said that Blackrock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF had the potential to surpass SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust to become the world's top exchange-traded fund.
According to SoSo Value, the 12 spot Bitcoin ETFs held $110 billion, or 5.7% of the total supply, as of this writing, with Blackrock’s IBIT leading the pack with over $50 billion in assets under management.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
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