Grayscale Bitcoin Trust rises 2.4% as largest bitcoin fund says it has formally kicked off plan to convert into an ETF

Grayscale Investments said connected Tuesday that it has formally applied with the Securities and Exchange Commission to person its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust GBTC, +1.42% into an exchange-traded money that is pegged straight to the world's No. 1 integer plus alternatively than absorption connected creating a futures-linked ETF. The announcement comes arsenic The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF BITO, +1.72% began trading connected Tuesday nether the ticker "BITO" connected the New York Stock Exchange arsenic a futures-linked ETF, which is being hailed arsenic a large milestone successful crypto. GBTC's purpose to person its trust, would let the largest bitcoin merchandise to clasp its dominance arsenic a crypto concern vehicle, with immoderate $33 cardinal successful assets. However, it isn't wide that SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who has said helium prefers a futures-based ETF due to the fact that it offers amended capitalist protections, volition o.k. a bitcoin ETF that is straight pegged to bitcoin. Futures let investors to indirectly stake connected an underlying asset. Critics accidental that futures-based ETFs are susceptible to divergences successful the prices of the futures and the underlying assets they track. "At Grayscale, we judge that if regulators are comfy with ETFs that clasp futures of a fixed asset, they should besides beryllium comfy with ETFs that connection vulnerability to the spot terms of that aforesaid asset," wrote Dave LaValle, planetary caput of ETFs astatine Grayscale Investments, successful a statement.