ProShares filings with the SEC for Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF

Exchange-traded fund issuer ProShares has filed a registration statement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to list shares of a Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF.

In a filing Tuesday, ProShares filed with the SEC for an investment vehicle that would allow users to bet against Bitcoin (BTC) futures using an exchange-traded fund. According to the registration statement, the Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF is based on daily investment results, which are the inverse of the one-day return of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Bitcoin Futures Contracts Index.

ProShares just applied for a Short Bitcoin Futures ETF. Even though the SEC denied a similar filing last year, I think that got a shot, as ProShares had the perfect reading of the SEC $BITO and the lack of issuance with futures ETFs so far. Ticker should be $FUD or $NGMI. Nice scoop over @kreifeld. pic.twitter.com/fOieZ0Tp9Y

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) April 6, 2022

In October 2021, ProShares became the first company ever to launch an exchange-traded fund linked to BTC futures in the United States on the NYSE Arca under the ticker BITO. At the time of publication, shares are trading at $27.58 after falling more than 4% in the past 24 hours.

Although the SEC has not approved a spot bitcoin ETF in the United States, it has given the green light to investment vehicles with exposure to BTC futures from 2021 and crypto mining companies. The regulator rejected a similar offer by ProShares in 2018, but a fund that allows investors to short Bitcoin futures from Horizons ETFs Management currently trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker BITI: the BetaPro Inverse Bitcoin ETF.

Related: Valkyrie Investments’ Leah Wald on Bitcoin ETFs and the future of digital assets

According to the SEC, ProShares’ filing is a preliminary prospectus that has yet to be finalized. The filing proposes a public offering 75 days after filing — June 19 — but the SEC has frequently delayed crypto ETF filings or opened them to public comment, an action that also extends the deadline for listing to be approved or denied of shares by the regulator.