Finally, a Bitcoin ETF.... but in Bermuda

[TravelMug]

Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSE) announced that it has approved Friday that it has approved the Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index ETF on its trading platform. This ETF is a joint venture with Hashdex, a Brazil-based fund manager, and American stock exchange Nasdaq.

BSX News

Admission to Listing Announcement: Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index ETF Class E Shares
 

HAMILTON, BERMUDA:  September 18, 2020- The Bermuda Stock Exchange announces the admission of the following securities to its Official List.

 ·         Name of Issuer: - Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index ETF
·         Description of Securities: - Participating Class E Shares
·         Nominal Amount of Securities: - 3,000,000 shares.
·         Listing Classification: - Section IV –Collective Investment Vehicles.
·         Method of Listing: - Private Placement.
·         Date of Admission to Listing: - September 18, 2020.
·         Listing Sponsor: - Clarien BSX Services Limited, Bermuda.

https://www.bsx.com/news_articles.php?ArticleID=1100799614

Oh well, at least we have official heard that a Bitcoin ETF has finally landed and perhaps this could gauge how it could really affect the market in the long run. Everybody is hoping for US to get approval first, but still this is still positive news for crypto enthusiast.

Here is speculation thread though: Bitcoin ETF by 2nd quarter of 2021? by @bbc.reporter

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[mk4]

Unfortunately, a crypto ETF, not really a bitcoin ETF. And taking a look at the index[1] itself..



I understand that it's an ETF, but it makes me cringe why they added these projects honestly.

[1] https://www.hashdex.com/en/index

[pooya87]

also it is not the first (if you are already looking in countries that aren't US) to get excited about it and say "finally". there are already a couple of actual bitcoin ETFs in other countries that are over a year old at this point.

[Gozie51]

An ETF is an investment vehicle that tracks the performance of a particular asset or group of assets. ... A bitcoin ETF is one that mimics the price of the most popular digital currency in the world. This allows investors to buy into theETF without going through the complicated process of trading bitcoin itself.

https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+bitcoin+etf&oq=what+is+bitcoin+etf&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l3.14386j0j7&client=ms-android-tecno&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

Bitcoin ETF has been on for long for some countries.


List of countries with ETF approval

The United States
Canada
Australia
Finland
Belgium
Cyprus
United Kingdom (UK)
Bulgaria
Germany

Countries that have said no to bitcoin or with no regulation

China
Russia
Vietnam
Bolivia
Ecuador

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/041515/countries-where-bitcoin-legal-illegal.asp

[dothebeats]

True bitcoin ETFs have been around some countries for over a year now, and at this point this is just another drop in the ocean. Also seeing some of the projects or tokens included in their ETF, I can't help but ask 'why' since some of these are just obvious money grabs with no actual development or market behind them, and some are relatively new with only a few people actually keen on investing and speculating with them.

[stompix]

I understand that it's an ETF, but it makes me cringe why they added these projects honestly.

Let's see:
- an ETF in Bermuda
- by a company with shareholders in Brazil and US
- lists bitcoin sv..

Btw, have you seen the fine print at the bottom of the page? Although it's so big even in small fonts it reaches the middle:

The information herein has not been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, any securities administrator under any state or foreign securities laws or any other governmental or self-regulatory authority. No governmental authority has issued opinions or approvals on the merits of the offering of any securities by the Fund or the adequacy of the information contained herein. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense in the United States. Investments in the Fund are speculative investments that involve high degrees of risk.

To be honest I have no clue what those first part means.

One more thing, the invest fund behind this manages ~38 millions $ according to brazil newspapers, that's quite low even for Brazil.

[gentlemand]

List of countries with ETF approval[/b]

The United States

Point us to where this US ETF is then. I'm sure we'd love to hear about it.

Even if this Bermudan development is an ETF no one's going to give a shit even though plenty of money is swilling around there. I'm not sure even a pan European one would stir people all that much. For some reason they want their American daddy to pat Bitcoin on the head by granting one.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

And I thought that we are done about Bitcoin ETF's though, well there was a lot of hype around it, specially in 2017. But the market survived without it in the bear market and I don't think it will as big as expected as we got tired waiting for it. I will compare this to Bakkt, lots of shilling and hype and when it was finally open to the public, it didn't put that some effect on the price.

[Lucius]

For some reason they want their American daddy to pat Bitcoin on the head by granting one.

I’ve already commented on this news in another topic, and I agree that any BTC ETF will go pretty unnoticed other than the one approved by the SEC in the US. But again even if that happens I don't know if there will be a difference in what an ETF is in its nature - a physical-backed bitcoin ETF that involves the physical purchase of BTC or one that is based on futures...

As far as I know, most experts believe that such an ETF would literally launch a price into the sky - but that the long-term consequences would not be good for Bitcoin. It is interesting to read what our admin thinks about it :

theymos
7 points ·
2 years ago
· edited 2 years ago

Agreed, an ETF will almost certainly turn into a disaster at some point. The coins will be stolen, forks will be handled controversially, there will be issues with fungibility (eg. someone will "trace stolen coins" to the ETF's stash), the world will freak out when a bunch of retirees lose their life savings after doing the equivalent of buying BTC at $20k, etc. etc. It'll also get the sort of people who love regulation more into BTC, which is never good.

But investors want it, so it'll probably happen eventually. In particular, I totally condemn trying to get regulators to interfere in the free market more than they already do by blocking any ETF. (When the SEC was last looking into this, I had actually written a long document that I was going to send to them in order to comment on many technical issues with their proposed Bitcoin ETF regulation, but I decided not to send it because I don't want to have even the slightest hand in regulations.)

An ETF probably will increase the price a lot (until the ETF suffers its near-inevitable catastrophe), which has some pros and cons.

Note that an ETF can't affect Bitcoin itself, just the ETF investors and the market. There is no voting of any sort in Bitcoin, so it's not as if holding a lot of BTC gives you any power over Bitcoin, for example. I do agree with Andreas that the creation of a "corpo-Bitcoin" seems probable, perhaps after the ETF loses a ton of BTC and wants to undo it.

[Karartma1]

I was very much excited about a bitcoin ETF in 2015/2016. Now I am not! I'd say the old financial zombies are trying to suck some vital elements from bitcoin and I agree with Lucius' post which shares theymos' comments: too much regulation is coming to bitcoin.
I think the protocol itself is safe as we speak, as there's no single point of failure and censorship resistance is still in place.
But, again, I hate Wall Street coming to our land. my 2 BTCsats

[7788bitcoin]

Oh well, at least we have official heard that a Bitcoin ETF has finally landed and perhaps this could gauge how it could really affect the market in the long run. Everybody is hoping for US to get approval first, but still this is still positive news for crypto enthusiast.

The reason SEC was rejecting the applications is because they think that there will be major market manipulation because bitcoin as an investment will be easily accessible to investors. Will see how the market reacts to these major changes and everything is culminating when the market is expected to rally.
It will take a long time for the US to approve ETF and so is the reason these companies are looking else where.

I am not bullish on ETF nor the options and future market as i wanted a free market and these additions will restrict the intent bitcoin is created with more regulations and government interventions.

[gmaxwell]

Maybe this is the start of what it's going to take for there there to be arrests over some of the more extremely scammy shitcoins.

Authorities will look the other way when it's all niche idiots ripping off other niche idiots.  Start defraud retail investors and eventually they'll hit someone with political clout and a taste for vengeance.

[Karartma1]

Maybe this is the start of what it's going to take for there there to be arrests over some of the more extremely scammy shitcoins.

Authorities will look the other way when it's all niche idiots ripping off other niche idiots.  Start defraud retail investors and eventually they'll hit someone with political clout and a taste for vengeance.

I would not be so sure they will be able to make such distinctions and, in any case, this paves the way for more and more regulations. Once regulated, always regulated. We are really losing touch with the original intentions. Getting dissatisfied, sorry.

[ilovealtcoins]

There were many EFT Bitcoin before that, and there was only one more EFT Bitcoin in Bermuda.
Regulations started to thicken and it was also just a money-making tool for individuals or financial companies in this country.
Ever since derivative instruments came out the value of bitcoin tends to depreciate more strongly than it increases in price and it is difficult to reach new ATH levels. If the price of bitcoin goes up, they sell it for a profit.

[pooya87]

Maybe this is the start of what it's going to take for there there to be arrests over some of the more extremely scammy shitcoins.

Authorities will look the other way when it's all niche idiots ripping off other niche idiots.  Start defraud retail investors and eventually they'll hit someone with political clout and a taste for vengeance.

I would not be so sure they will be able to make such distinctions and, in any case, this paves the way for more and more regulations. Once regulated, always regulated. We are really losing touch with the original intentions. Getting dissatisfied, sorry.

nobody can regulate anything that is decentralized, hence the cryptocurrency world will remain unregulated forever. what they will continue regulating is the exchanges and other centralized places which was expected. besides it won't change a thing about scams such as these fund raising schemes under different names such as ICO, IEO, STO, DEFI,... and all the shitcoin, copycoin creations they will always remain a nuisance in this space.
even if any arrests were made some day, it would be a drop in the ocean of scams.

[Mpamaegbu]

Isn't the triangle the only thing Bermuda is reputable for? 😏

[oxgroth]

This is good starting point as for me. Maybe we will finally see bitcoin ETF in USA/EU...

[fillippone]

This is a non news.

The holy grail of ETF for bitcoin is the US market, where currently only GBTC can be traded, with some fiscal benefit and with a very high fee of 2% and an astonishing 20% premium on NAV (read my thread here: Everything you wanted to know about Grayscale BTC Trust but were afraid to ask! ).
In Europe you are more lucky, as you have more choices, namely the very efficient ETP product on the Xetra ( read here: ETC Group to launch bitcoin ETP on Deutsche Boerse)

I am not against those instruments: every instruments that. An help the price discovery process of bitcoin is useful. And to be proven a good store of value bitcoin has to survive weak speculative attack, as gold has done over the centuries.