Fidelity Investments, one of the first asset managers to engage with cryptocurrencies, has filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a Bitcoin ETF, joining a growing number of other, though smaller, firms that have done the same.
According to the filing, the Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust would track the performance of Bitcoin as measured by the Fidelity Bitcoin Index PR, which continually updates Bitcoin prices throughout the day based on feeds from multiple spot markets and a volume-weighted median price ("VWMP") methodology. Fidelity Digital Assets Services, which launched in late 2018, would serve as custodian.
Fidelity has already introduced the Wise Origin Bitcoin Index Fund I, which is available only to qualified investors and requires a minimum $100,000 investment.
In a statement released following its Bitcoin ETF filing Fidelity said: "The digital ecosystem has grown significantly in recent years, creating an even more robust marketplace for investors and accelerating demand among institutions. An increasingly wide range of investors seeking access to Bitcoin has underscored the need for a more diversified set of products offering exposure to digital assets."
Growing Number of Bitcoin ETF Applications
VanEck, WisdomTree, Skybridge Capital in partnership with First Trust Advisors, Valkyrie Digital Assets and NYDIG Asset Management have all filed for Bitcoin ETFs with the SEC, which had rejected several Bitcoin ETF applications in the past.
Chris Kuiper, vice president of equity research at CFRA, says the Fidelity filing is "big news" given that "Fidelity is one of the largest asset managers around with trillions of dollars in assets under management.
