Bitcoin ETFs

For years, the Bitcoin community had been waiting for spot Bitcoin ETF approval in the United States. Applications had been filed and rejected multiple times since 2013. The SEC consistently cited concerns about market manipulation and investor protection.

In January 2024, after a court ruling forced the SEC to reconsider, the floodgates opened. The agency approved eleven spot Bitcoin ETFs simultaneously, including products from BlackRock — the world’s largest asset manager with over $10 trillion under management — and Fidelity.

The significance was structural. Before the ETF approval, accessing Bitcoin required:
– Opening a cryptocurrency exchange account
– Completing KYC verification
– Learning about wallets and custody
– Managing private keys

After the ETF approval, accessing Bitcoin required:
– Clicking “buy” on a brokerage account you already have

This removed the friction that had kept a significant portion of potential investors on the sidelines. Financial advisors who had been legally or practically constrained from recommending Bitcoin could now recommend Bitcoin ETFs — products that fit within existing regulatory frameworks.

In the first year of trading, the Bitcoin ETFs accumulated over $50 billion in assets — the fastest ETF launch in history by that measure.

The ETFs don’t change what Bitcoin is. The underlying network keeps running exactly as before. But they changed who has access to it — and at what scale.

For the long-term Bitcoin thesis, this matters. More capital allocators now have a simple, regulated path to exposure.

Tomorrow: what the ETF approval actually meant — beyond the headlines.

— The Daily Bit