Grayscale Investments hints at possible Bitcoin ETF

The investment manager reportedly awaited SEC's approval for a futures-based Bitcoin ETF before filing an application for its GBTC fund

Grayscale is looking at a potential restructuring of its benchmark Bitcoin Trust into a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), days after the SEC was said to have allowed trading of the ProShares Bitcoin futures ETF.

According to sources cited by CNBC, Grayscale's plans to file an ETF application with the SEC were to begin immediately after the US regulator allowed a futures Bitcoin ETF.

The investment manager's plans for filing for a physically-settled BTC fund were also hinted at by Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert on Sunday, 17 October.

Following the SEC's decision on the cash-settled ProShares ETF, Silbert took to Twitter to voice his opinion. Seemingly unconvinced of the futures ETFs' overall outlook, he noted: "Friends don't let friends buy and hold futures-based ETFs."

Asked by InvestorsPodcast.com's Preston Pysh when Grayscale would be converting its flagship Bitcoin Trust into a BTC-settled exchange-traded fund, the DCG founder simply said: "Stay tuned."

Bitcoin price soars on ETF news

Once filed, the SEC will have an initial 75 days to consider the application, with possible extensions to the period given the securities watchdog's previous dealings with similar filings.

Grayscale's ETF, as with others filed in the past, will be backed by actual Bitcoins. It is a product many within the crypto investment community have eyed for nearly a decade, even as the SEC warms up to derivative contracts-backed funds.

Notably, though, the approval of a BTC futures-based ETF has buoyed investor sentiment around Bitcoin, with the bellwether cryptocurrency's price soaring to highs near $63,000 on 17 October.

As of writing, BTC/USD is trading around $62,606 according to data from CoinGecko. The cryptocurrency's value is up about 2.3% in 24 hours and could see further gains to break above its all-time high near $65,000.