Where bitcoin and other token-based exchange-traded funds have failed to get the US Securities and Exchange Commission's approval, Nasdaq hopes that an ETF based on bitcoin's enabling technology will pass muster with the regulator.
The global exchange operator has developed its Reality Shares Nasdaq Blockchain Economy Index, which tracks the growth and development of companies creating and implementing blockchain-based platform, and has partnered with Reality Shares to launch an ETF that tracks the index.
“The collaboration between Nasdaq and Reality Shares represents a tangible way to track the growth of an industry that may revolutionize the way commerce is conducted, and yet is still in its infancy,” said Fredrik Voss, Vice President of Blockchain Innovation at Nasdaq, in a prepared statement.
The Index universe is to include only those blockchain companies that have market capitalizations more than $200 million, the shares of which are exchange-traded and have a six-month average daily trading volume greater than $1,000,000 as of the Index’s reconstitution date, according to the ETF filing.
“Reality Shares recognized the tremendous growth potential of blockchain technology, and subsequently teamed up with Nasdaq to identify what we believe to be the leading global companies deploying resources to develop blockchain applications,” said Eric Ervin, CEO of Reality Shares, in the same prepared statement. “As these new applications are deployed, we believe these companies will most likely become disrupters in their industries, with a potential to profit at the expense of laggard companies that do not deploy blockchain applications.”