As the battle for bitcoin ETF assets continues, many predict that a new fund will soon be added.
Some industry observers said that the asset management division of financial giant Schwab – whose US ETFs have assets worth $320 billion – is one candidate for launching such a fund.
Charles Schwab — alongside Fidelity — currently allows investors to trade spot bitcoin ETFs on its brokerage platform. Schwab, unlike Fidelity does not offer its own bitcoin ETF.
Bloomberg Intelligence reports that the Fidelity Smart Origin Bitcoin Trust (FBTC), which launched on January 11, has received $1.9 billion in investments. This total comes in second in this segment only to BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust.
Bloomberg Intelligence’s analyst stated in a X message Saturday that Fidelity’s FBTC, which is a rival product to Schwab’s FBTC, could be a catalyst for Schwab. “to file something sooner rather than later.”
“They’re never first to market in anything but they make [a big] impact when they come in [with a] dirt cheap fee [and] 30 [million] active brokerage [accounts],” Balchunas added.
Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, said in a separate X post that he agreed with Balchunas — calling Schwab’s potential entrance into the segment a “foregone conclusion.”
Schwab, which launched in 2022 an ETF which holds stocks related to cryptography, has yet to announce plans of launching a Bitcoin spot ETF.
Blockworks received a statement from a company spokesperson on Monday stating that they do not comment upon speculation.
“Schwab Asset Management continues to learn and hear from investors as to their investment needs and considerations for investing in bitcoin ETFs,” The representative stated earlier in this month. “As is the case with everything we do, if a decision is made by us to offer an ETF in this space, we will seek to deliver on those investment needs with a client focus.”
State Street has also remained uncertain in its interest for spot bitcoin ETFs. Vanguard has made it clear repeatedly that they do not plan to launch an ETF for spot bitcoin.
Janel Jackson, global head of ETF capital markets, said in a Jan. 24 Q&A on the firm’s website that “we do not currently believe that there is an appropriate role for them to play in long-term portfolios.”
Vanguard’s platform does not also allow for the purchase or sale of such funds.
Jackson added “In Vanguard’s view, crypto is more of a speculation than an investment.”
The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a list of firms to offer a ten-spot bitcoin ETF. These funds have been trading in the market for two weeks.
Not all are convinced that there will be additional spot bitcoin ETFs.
Sumit Roy is a senior analyst with ETF.com. He told Blockworks that he expected no other issuers in the coming months. “vanilla” Look for bitcoin ETFs at the Future.
At the time, He said: “But I do expect that there will be more creative funds that add other types of exposures on top of just bitcoin.”
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