ETFs Could Do For Bitcoin What They Did For Gold

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have taken the investment world by storm, but for the average investor wanting a piece of the action without the risk of owning them outright, options are limited. Some stocks do offer indirect exposure to cryptocurrencies, but they are hardly pure-play options. As a result, some investors are looking at cryptocurrency funds, but those who are serious will find very few options. Multiple attempts to bring bitcoin ETFs onto the market have failed.

JPMorgan analysts Kenneth Worthington and Jenny Ni said in a recent note that the main reason asset managers are not participating much in cryptocurrency funds is lack of credibility. Officials with the Securities and Exchange Commission have been warning investors away from bitcoin and other digital currencies, not only because of the extreme volatility in their prices but also because of the many scams that aim to take advantage of the crypto craze.

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Worthington and Ni point out that there’s just a “handful” of cryptocurrency funds available to investors, and most of them are from outside the country. They also say that asset managers generally have only a “tiny presence” in cryptocurrencies and call cryptocurrency ETFs a “holy grail for owners and investors.”

While multiple asset managers have attempted to launch bitcoin ETFs in the U.S., none have managed to get regulatory approval for their products. However, the JPMorgan team sees several advantages when it comes to bitcoin ETFs (or other cryptocurrencies).

For example, they said bitcoin ETFs would offer easier access to investors because investors must have a digital wallet to trade the digital currency at all, which makes access difficult. However, exchange-traded funds are traded often, and they describe ETFs as “highly accessible via investors’ brokerage accounts.” Further, they note that ETFs are “highly transparent,” as “derivatives, such as futures, readily track underlying assets and are regularly used by ETFs to support access to the underlying investments.”