NYDIG Files for Bitcoin ETF, Adding to Firms Hoping 2021 Is When SEC Finally Says ‘Yes’

NYDIG, Stone Ridge Asset Management’s bitcoin spin-off firm, has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

• With the filing, NYDIG is clearly hoping that 2021 will be the year the SEC approves the first such ETF.
• So far the SEC has considered many applications for bitcoin-based ETFs and rejected them all. In August 2018, it rejected nine such proposals on the same day.
• Lately there's been growing sentiment in the industry that the SEC has warmed to the idea, however, and NYDIG has become at least the third firm to recently apply for a bitcoin ETF, folllowing VanEck and Valkyrie.
• An ETF is seen as advantageous because it trades on the stock market in much the same way as shares in popular companies such as Apple and Microsoft and thus would make cryptocurrencies more mainstream and broaden acceptance of them.
• NYDIG's filing lists Morgan Stanley as the initial authorized participant in the ETF, making it the financial giant's latest potential foray into cryptocurrency.
• The filing comes on the same day as the leading cryptocurrency hit $50,000 for the first time ever.