As regulation permitting the establishment of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds remains stalled in the U.S., Goldman Sachs has officially applied for an ETF offering exposure to companies in decentralized finance and blockchain.
Fast facts
- In a recent filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the bank said its fund — the Goldman Sachs Innovate DeFi and Blockchain Equity ETF — would offer exposure to funds that advance the implementation of blockchain technology and the digitalization of finance.
- At least 80% of the fund’s assets would be invested in companies listed on the Decentralized Finance and Blockchain Index by German financial indexer Solactive. Solactive’s methodology requires that the DeFi companies it lists must also be listed on a stock exchange, and have a market cap of more than US$500 million with a daily average volume of at least US$500 million for the previous six months.
- Despite cryptocurrency ETFs having been given a green light in some countries — notably Canada, which has issued many such licenses this year — regulators have been much more reluctant to issue licenses in the U.S.
- Only last week, crypto investment manager Grayscale launched its own DeFi fund, based on a CoinDesk DeFi index. Investors in the fund will be able to allocate funds to the index without actually having to buy any tokens.