SEC Approves Spot Bitcoin ETFs in Milestone for Digital Assets

U.S. regulators for the first time approved exchange-traded funds that invest directly in Bitcoin, a move heralded as a landmark event for the roughly $1.7 trillion digital-asset sector that will broaden access to the largest cryptocurrency on Wall Street and beyond.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, whose three-part mandate includes investor protection, authorized 11 funds to begin trading Thursday.

The approvals also mark a rare capitulation by the SEC following opposition that lasted for more than a decade, ever since Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss first proposed a Bitcoin ETF in 2013.

BlackRock Inc.’s surprise application last June, followed by an appeals court ruling that called the denial of a different application “arbitrary and capricious,” triggered a blistering rally in the cryptocurrency as speculation that US regulators would finally give their blessing to the structure.

The decision comes a day after a false post on the SEC’s X account claimed that the agency had approved the ETFs. The regulator subsequently said that the account had been compromised, causing the price of Bitcoin to fluctuate widely.

Bitcoin rose less than 1% to $45,729 following the approvals.

The original cryptocurrency, which sank 64% in 2022, more than doubled in 2023 in large part because of speculation that the SEC would eventually approve ETFs that will allow investors to get exposure to the token in their traditional brokerage accounts instead of one of the crypto-native startups that have come under increasing government scrutiny following a series of sector scandals and bankruptcies.

Crypto proponents have for years argued that a so-called spot fund that invests directly in Bitcoin would be beneficial to investors and would help bring the industry closer to the more highly regulated world of traditional finance.