Bloomberg's ETF whisperer says the SEC could approve a BTC ETF

The Scoop

Regulators in Canada approved two bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in recent days, marking the first approvals of their kind for North America.

Since launch, the products have seen considerable inflows. With the demand for a bitcoin ETF now proven, many wonder what a Canadian approval could mean for a U.S. offering.

The Scoop spoke with Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, about what an approved bitcoin ETF means for the landscape. During this week's episode Balchunas broke down the winding road to approval and why Canada was always likely to be a first.

Now that Canada has its BTC ETFs, he argued that an approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is just around the corner.

"I think it's just a matter of the SEC coming around, and then once they come around mentally, I imagine it will happen pretty quickly," he said. "But again, I'm not in that bubble. I'm not a regulatory analyst. That's just my sense from talking to people."

• How Canada has historically been a proving ground for novel financial products.
• The differences and similarities in the Canadian and U.S. approval processes.
• Why Balchunas thinks 2021 will be the year of a U.S. BTC ETF approval.
• Why it's only a matter of time before a meme ETF launches.

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