Futures Firm Cboe Filed for 6 Bitcoin ETFs This Week

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list multiple bitcoin futures ETFs, public records show.

According to Cboe's website, the firm submitted proposed rule changes that would clear the way for listing the following ETFs: the First Trust Bitcoin Strategy ETF, the First Trust Inverse Bitcoin Strategy ETF, the GraniteShares Bitcoin ETF, the GraniteShares Short Bitcoin ETF, the REX Bitcoin Strategy ETF and the REX Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF.

The proposed rule changes were filed with the SEC between Dec. 15 and Dec. 19.

The pace of the filings is notable given that Cboe launched its first bitcoin futures contracts 11 days ago, with the first of the ETF filing coming just days after the product first went live.

Compared to past bitcoin-related ETF efforts, the six in question would track the performance of futures rather than the digital asset itself.

That latter approach, seen in submissions like the long-running one from investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, has run into repeated opposition from the SEC. The agency had cast a critical eye on the state of the cryptocurrency market when it rejected the Winklevoss ETF last spring, though the SEC has since moved to review of that decision.

Efforts to list futures ETFs may not fare much better. As CoinDesk previously reported, firms like VanEck had to withdraw their push to create long and short-style ETFs around bitcoin futures because such products hadn't yet been successfully released and traded.

Whether the SEC shifts its view in light of the Cboe release as well as last weekend's launch by CME Group remains to be seen.

Disclosure: CME Group is an investor in Digital Currency Group, CoinDesk's parent company.

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