The Block: Bitwise exec: bitcoin ETFs would offer investors, advisors a new way to gain crypto exposure

According to Bitwise Asset Management COO Teddy Fusaro, bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) would provide a needed addition to the ecosystem of crypto products.

As Fusaro puts it o n the latest episode of The Scoop, Fusaro said he believes there is a real demand for bitcoin ETF out there. This extends to financial advisors and their clients, who would gain a kind of access to bitcoin markets in the same way they can access other forms of investment.

The asset management firm withdrew its bitcoin ETF proposal in January after first filing it a year prior, having eight meetings with the SEC since then. In Sep. 2019, Cboe BZX Exchange pulled back its VanEck/SolidX bitcoin ETF proposal after the SEC repeatedly postponed the decision deadline.

Matt Hougan, global head of research at Bitwise, previously told The Block that the firm has not given up on the proposal and “intends to refile [its] application at an appropriate time.”

Be they financial advisors running their businesses on Fidelity and Charles Schwab or self-directed investors managing their assets on E*Trade, they should be able to access bitcoin products in their brokerage accounts according to Fusaro.

"More importantly, we think that they should have the choice," he said. "We think that if they don't want to research fifteen different cryptocurrency trading platforms, or if they don't want to buy a ledger and figure out how to do cold storage on their own, they deserve the right to choose how they want to access the bitcoin market."