Three weeks after the Securities and Exchange Commission delayed a decision on their retail Bitcoin ETF proposal for at least the third time, VanEck Securities and SolidX Management announced they will offer shares in a Bitcoin trust to qualified institutional buyers.
The partnership will use Rule 144A of the Securities Act of 1933 to offer shares in the VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust, which provides access to a physically backed Bitcoin product. The trust's net asset value is based on the Bitcoin U.S. OTC Spot Index from MVIX, a VanEck subsidiary. SolidX is the sponsor of the trust and VanEck provides marketing services.
The qualified institutional buyers that can purchase the trust's shares include broker-dealers with at least $10 million invested in non-affiliated securities, investment firms that manage a minimum investment of $100 million in securities on a discretionary basis, banks and insurance companies. Retail investors are excluded from the offering.
"We're introducing a solution for institutions that fits within their operational processes and the current regulatory framework," said VanEck CEO Jan van Eck in a statement. He noted that "institutional demand for Bitcoin exposure is uncertain because institutional quality vehicles simply have not, to this point, been readily available."
"Institutional investors can finally gain exposure to Bitcoin within a familiar context," said SolidX CEO Daniel Gallancy, in a statement, adding that the Bitcoin trust represents "an exciting next step for the two firms to bring institutional-quality crypto asset products to the marketplace."
