In October, ProShares launched the first U.S. Bitcoin futures ETF under the ticker BITO. A few days later, the amount of funds in the fund exceeded $ 1 billion, but now interest in it has decreased.
The number of bitcoin futures in the fund as of January 11 was 4,904, which is equivalent to $ 1.16 billion. About the same amount was invested in BITO two days after launch, and in November the fund managed $ 1.4 billion.
According to analysts at Arcane Research, the main reason for the withdrawal of funds from the ProShares fund was the decline in the bitcoin rate in recent weeks. Now bitcoin is trading at $ 43,600, while in November the BTC rate reached a new record – $ 69,000. Analysts also stressed that investments in the fund themselves are quite expensive, because the fund sells futures every month to buy them for a new period.
One solution to the high cost of managing a Bitcoin futures fund could be the launch of an ETF with direct investment in BTC. However, the US regulators are not yet ready to approve such investment instruments. On January 20, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will consider an application to launch a similar fund from Fidelity Investments. However, one should not rely too much on a positive decision of the regulator.
Other ETFs for Bitcoin futures also show no growth in the amount of funds under management. Currently, Valkyrie’s BTFD has $ 79.1 million, while VanEck’s XBTF has only $ 15.8 million invested.
At the end of December, Bitwise CEO Matthew Hougan stated that Bitcoin futures ETFs are not suitable for investors opting for the HODL strategy. He stressed that the additional costs in such funds are too high.
