First Short Bitcoin ETF Will List On The NYSE

By Kevin • June 20, 2022 2:19 pm • Comments

Investment product provider ProShares has announced that the company is set to release the first short Bitcoin ETF on the market.

This would likely change market dynamics as this is the first time that investors on traditional markets can now bet against Bitcoin.

The ETF is set to be launched on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and will likely set as an instrument that institutional investors could use to hedge against their Bitcoin investments.

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Such an ability would likely be useful during market downturns which is what we are currently experiencing now in both the equities and the crypto markets.

CoinDesk reports:

The ETF will allow investors to hedge their bitcoin exposure, which may prove particularly pertinent given the sharp downturn in crypto markets of late.

ProShares was the first firm to list a bitcoin futures ETF in October, a factor which saw the world’s largest crypto hit an all-time high of around $68,900 in the subsequent weeks.

Bitcoin investors will be hoping the listing of a short bitcoin futures ETF does not have a similar effect on the world’s largest crypto in reverse.

Bitcoin’s price dropped below $20,000 for the first time since Dec. 20 on June 18, falling as low as $17,800 the following day.

ProShares applied to list BITI in early April, around the same time as leveraged ETF-provider Direxion filed to list a similar product. As yet there have been no updates on the status of Direxion’s application.

It is important to note that this new investment product allows investors to bet against the price of bitcoin using futures contracts.

To this day, there are still no spot Bitcoin ETFs that have been approved yet as the SEC has consistently rejected all proposals to approve one.

Only ETFs linked to BTC futures are approved which greatly limits the amount of capital inflows into the popular digital asset.

ProShares CEO Michael Sapir shares details of the ETF and reveals that its ticket symbol is BITI which is set to be released on June 21st.

CoinTelegraph concludes:

“BITI affords investors who believe that the price of Bitcoin will drop with an opportunity to potentially profit or to hedge their cryptocurrency holdings,” said ProShares CEO Michael Sapir.

“BITI enables investors to conveniently obtain short exposure to Bitcoin through buying an ETF in a traditional brokerage account.”

The launch of the investment vehicle will come amid a bear market for major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ether (ETH).

On Saturday, the BTC price dropped under $18,000 for the first time since 2020 but has since returned to more than $20,000 at the time of publication.

The ETH price experienced a similar drop to under $1,000 on June 18 — an 18-month low.

Digital asset manager Grayscale has recently been exploring all legal options to get the SEC to approve a spot ETF and investors believe that it is only a matter of time before it happens.

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