Leaving behind last year's chaos, cryptos begin a new life
Investors started trading in Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) in the US on Friday after the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) allowed 11 asset managers, including BlackRock, Fidelity, Invesco, and ARK Investments to launch the product. This is considered a watershed moment for the crypto industry, which includes all kinds of digital currencies, including bitcoin, as investors now have a chance to buy these digital currencies in a regulated environment.
What's a bitcoin exchange traded fund (ETF)?
Bitcoin ETFs are instruments which are traded publicly on a stock exchange that enable investors to gain exposure to bitcoin without actually owning the cryptocurrency. An ETF is an investment fund that tracks the performance of an underlying asset. The underlying asset could be a portfolio of stocks, or fixed income securities, or a precious metal like gold or silver or bitcoin. ETFs trade real time on traditional stock exchanges, and the price moves up or down in line with that of the underlying asset.
How do bitcoins in the ETF format help investors?
When you invest in a bitcoin ETF, you're not directly purchasing it but instead buying units in a mutual fund that holds bitcoin. Since ETFs are regulated, it is easier for investors to gain exposure to bitcoin's price movements without having to worry about buying and storing the digital currency and the associated risks of an unregulated product. Also, now investors can bet on crypto without opening an account with a crypto exchange or setting up a digital wallet for the storage, which is considered a complicated process.
Did you Know?
The world of cryptocurrencies is very dynamic. Prices can go up or down in a matter of seconds. Thus, having reliable answers to such
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