The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the first-ever spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) to trade publicly in the U.S. on Jan. 10.

In the landmark judgment, the SEC approved the 19b-4 applications from ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, VanEck, WisdomTree, Fidelity, Valkyrie, BlackRock, Grayscale, Bitwise, Hashdex and Franklin Templeton, allowing their spot Bitcoin BTC $46,967 ETFs to be listed and traded on regulated exchanges. The trading of the ETFs will begin when markets open on Jan. 11.

The approval of the spot Bitcoin ETF paves the way for investors to gain direct exposure to the price of Bitcoin without buying it. Investors would instead buy shares in listed ETFs holding physical Bitcoin as their underlying asset.

Samir Kerbage, chief information officer at Hashdex — one of the asset managers to get SEC approval for its Bitcoin ETF — told Cointelegraph that it is a monumental day in the history of digital assets, and the approval marks the next phase for the industry by allowing U.S. investors to fully participate in the promise of Bitcoin.

“Hashdex is thrilled to offer the Hashdex Bitcoin ETF, in coordination with Tidal, as one of the first regulated U.S. products that will offer investors exposure to spot Bitcoin pricing,” he said.

The race for the spot Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. has been a long one, with several filings and rejections before the new filing cycle began in 2023.

Source - Coin Telegraph