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Bitcoin Futures-Based ETF Likely To Be Approved in the US (thestreet.com)
The race is on: who will be the first to launch a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the United States? From a report, shared by a reader: In Europe, there is already a Bitcoin exchange traded note (ETN) available to investors. In the U.S., it is widely anticipated a Bitcoin ETF will be be approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) very soon. In Europe, ETNs are designed to track the movement of Bitcoin against the U.S. dollar. The ETNs are Bitcoin Tracker One, which is traded in Swedish krona and Bitcoin Tracker EURO, which is traded in euro. Both ETNs are issued by XBT Provider AB and traded on Nasdaq OMX (Stockholm). Dave Nadig, CEO of ETF.com and previously the director of ETFs at FactSet Research Systemsm believes we can expect to see Bitcoin Futures-based ETF launched in the U.S. by the end of this year. "Yes, you can already trade a derivative in Europe, an exchange traded note which tracks Bitcoin," Nadig adds. "Then the race in the U.S. is the race to see what gets approval first. Will it be a Bitcoin future or a straight up Bitcoin holding ETF? My bet is that we will see Bitcoin futures approved fairly quickly."
This will actually be a plus for the woefully slow blockchain, as it allows speculators to move to real markets: an ETF will be far easier to trade than actual bitcoin, just as currency futures are mush easier to trade than schlepping physical currency around. The ETF can trade many times per day (or per second) without the underlying bitcoin changing owners.
But it's also the beginning of the "BTC money supply" becoming disconnected from the amount of issued BTC. Once we start seeing BTC-denominated savings accounts and currency derivative swaps, the BTC money supply will be many times larger than the actual issued BTC, and BTC will see many of the same behaviors as "fiat currency". Just as fixing the supply of physical USD currency would mean almost nothing to inflation or the USD money supply, the fact that the issued BTC will son become fixed will mean almost nothing. Welcome to modern finance.
Did you know there the total value of currency and credit derivatives is now half a quadrillion dollars? People worried about the Fed's control of the money supply are only seeing one tree in the forest. Currency derivatives for BTC already exist - what fun.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Everything you said is true, it has no value, it's nothing but numbers and electron BUT you can't replicate it, you can transfer it and it's limited... those are good characteristics for using it as money. Some people like the idea you can send any amount you want anywhere on the planet. Bitcoin is an experimental currency that has predicted inflation, against USD and EURO where they race to print as much money as they can... the bets are pretty good IMO.