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by Hannah Lang and Suzanne McGee
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on Wednesday it approved the launch of bitcoin-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs), a turning point for the leading cryptocurrency in the world and for the sector as a whole.
This announcement comes after the SEC announced the day before that its account on the X platform (formerly Twitter) had been compromised to publish a message to this effect, creating confusion, without the impact of this incident being then clearly established.
The SEC approved applications for bitcoin ETFs submitted in particular by BlackRock, Ark Investments and 21Shares, Fidelity, Invesco and VanEck, according to a note published on its website. Some products could be listed on the stock market as early as Thursday.
After a series of scandals, this decision should constitute a major boost for the cryptocurrency industry, with products allowing institutional and individual investors to benefit from exposure to bitcoin without directly owning it.
Bitcoin has soared more than 70% in recent months in anticipation of such SEC authorization.
(Reporting Hannah Lang Washington and Suzanne McGee New York, with Chris Prentice, Douglas Gillison and Laura Matthews; French version Jean Terzian)