Bitcoin ETFs Are Here, but Do They Have a Future?

In January, spot Bitcoin exchange traded funds (ETFs) were released to the public.

They were approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 10th. ETFs are supposed to decrease the risk for buying and selling Bitcoin, yet some investors worry that they create a false sense of security and offer false promises.

Bitcoin is rising fast, having passed $50,000 in December and still gaining. Today, Bitcoin is up 0.22% and its hold on the crypto market in the number one spot is not changing anytime soon.

There are concerns about illegal activity that uses Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies taking place on the dark web. While Bitcoin has been positioned as the decentralized currency of the world, the difficulty in using it does not paint the kind of picture. Transactions with Bitcoin are unwieldy and not something that most people can easily do through their regular payment methods. Comparatively few purchases are made with cryptocurrency for any kind, including Bitcoin.

Bitcoin transactions are very fast ones, though, on the digital level. They are also mostly invisible, making them hard to track and difficult to oversee. This is why many custodial banks shy away from them. JPMorgan and other custodial banks like to keep meticulous records of transactions made with them. This helps them stay in the good graces of governments and keep out of the arenas of illegal activity. Bitcoin makes that process of documentation difficult, which is not how major banking institutions like to do business.

A Bright Future

However, Bitcoin ETFs are proving profitable and useful. These ETFs have only been on the market for a little over a month, and yet nine Bitcoin EEFT’s have earned $9.5 billion since then. That amounts to more than 200,000 BTC in that period.

Even if banks may not like Bitcoin ETFs and Bitcoin still might not be seen as safe by the wider financial arena, Bitcoin ETFs are doing well. The leading ETFs are experiencing incredible cashflow, and that will translate to greater interest in Bitcoin ETFs for the near future. Despite past scandals and questions about the stability and usefulness of Bitcoin, there is no doubt that this new Bitcoin venture is paying dividends.