SEC Approves Bitwise's Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has granted preliminary approval to Bitwise Asset Management for its highly anticipated spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF). On January 30, the regulator approved the fund’s Form 19b-4, marking the first key step toward the ETF’s launch.

Before it can go live, however, the SEC must still greenlight Bitwise’s Form S-1 registration application. If successful, this ETF would provide investors with direct exposure to the spot prices of both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) in a single, weighted fund.

The fund will initially allocate 83% to Bitcoin and 17% to Ethereum, based on each asset’s market capitalization at the time of submission. The valuations will rely on pricing benchmarks multiplied by their respective circulating supplies.

Bitwise Investment Advisers will serve as the ETF manager, with Coinbase acting as the custodian for digital assets. Meanwhile, Bank of New York Mellon will handle cash custody, administration, and transfer services.

Bitwise’s latest move follows the agency’s appointment of a crypto-friendly acting chair and a filing made shortly after Donald Trump’s November 2024 election victory.

Bitwise isn’t stopping at BTC and ETH. On January 28, the company filed paperwork for a Dogecoin-focused spot ETF, signaling a broader push into the market for digital asset funds.

The ETF sector is also seeing increasing innovation, with Tuttle Capital recently submitting filings for ten leveraged crypto ETFs. Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart commented that issuers are “testing the limits of what this SEC is going to allow.”

Nathan Dean, a senior government analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, highlighted that companies are “probing the SEC’s boundaries,” particularly with unique filings involving memecoins.

The U.S. SEC’s recent approval of Bitwise’s combined BTC and ETH ETF signals a pivotal moment for cryptocurrency investment vehicles in America. This landmark step towards regulatory acceptance is expected to spur further innovations within the crypto ETF market.

The U.S. SEC’s approval paves the way for combined BTC and ETH ETF trading, marking a turning point for cryptocurrency investment vehicles in the U.S.