By Samuel Indyk
Investing.com – The price of Bitcoin jumped towards its all-time high on Friday morning after a Bloomberg report said the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is set to allow a US Bitcoin Futures ETF to begin trading next week, citing people familiar with the matter.
Bitcoin Futures ETF
Hopes that a Bitcoin futures ETF would be approved by the SEC have supported the price in recent weeks. Some exchanges show the world’s largest cryptocurrency reached $60,000 on Friday morning following the Bloomberg story.
Bitcoin previously hit an all-time high in April of $64,778.
The approval of a Bitcoin ETF would give more opportunity to traders willing to invest in cryptocurrencies without the risk of buying the physical asset and is seen as a major stepping stone on the path for cryptocurrencies to become a mainstream financial market asset.
There are a number of fund managers with applications for a Bitcoin futures ETF including ProShares, Valkyrie, Invesco, and VanEck. Earlier this week, Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest also filed for a Bitcoin futures ETF.
SEC Tweet
Further adding weight to the argument that the first Bitcoin futures ETF will begin trading was a tweet from the SEC’s Investor Education Office.
“Before investing in a fund that holds Bitcoin futures contracts, make sure you carefully weigh the potential risks and benefits,” the tweet said.
It is worth nothing that one of the previous times the SEC tweeted out this bulletin was two days prior to the Bitcoin Strategy Mutual Fund BTCFX begun trading. Some analysts have taken this as a signal that a Bitcoin futures ETF will begin trading imminently.
At 11:00BST, Bitcoin was trading just off its daily high at $59,366.