Two blockchain ETFs are launching but blockchain won't be in their names
- Two blockchain ETFs are set to start trading Wednesday, but blockchain won't be in their name.
- Eric Ervin, the chief executive officer of Reality Shares, told Business Insider the SEC is wary about the mania surrounding blockchain.
Reality Shares' new blockchain ETF is set to begin trading on Wednesday as expected, but there's a catch.
Blockchain won't be in its name.
"So it is going to be Next Gen Economy ETF," Reality Shares chief executive Eric Ervin, told Business Insider. "Same ticker, same premise, same index, and the same investment objective."
Amplify, a company that has an actively managed blockchain fund set to go live Wednesday, is also removing the nascent technology from its name. Ervin told Business Insider the regulator asked both firms to prove that the majority of the revenue from each company in the funds is tied to blockchain.
"It's a measure we can't prove," Ervin said.
Ervin said the regulator would typically allow them to make a case for a different test to show a fund lives up to its name, but not in this case since "it's such a hot hot thing they said you can re-file and delay or change the name."
The SEC has also pumped the brakes on the launch of bitcoin-linked ETFs. As such, a number of companies including Rafferty Asset Management, ProShares, and VanEck have halted plans to launch bitcoin-linked funds.
Still, Ervin thinks a bitcoin ETF will happen.
"It would make that on-ramp process easier for people," he said."I think everyone should have 1-5% of their net-worth here, in cryptocurrencies."
But a bitcoin or blockchain-linked ETF is just the tip of the iceberg, according to Ervin. He said there's going to be a day whens stocks are tokenized on the blockchain.
"And then you can have a token that represents shares in many companies, like an ETF," he said. "So maybe that's the next step for the space."
Ervin said his firm is looking at numerous ways they can become a part of this.
"This isn't just 'let's launch an ETF,' it is a much bigger deal for us," he said.