ON THIS DAY IN CRYPTO, OCT 19🗓️
eight years of waiting, filings and rejected proposals led to one historic day.
on October 19th 2021,
@ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF,
$BITO began trading on the NYSE.
it was the first U.S. bitcoin linked ETF approved by the SEC, giving traditional market participants a way to gain Bitcoin exposure through a regular brokerage account.
and Wall Street showed up.
$BITO attracted roughly $570M in assets on day one, while trading volume approached $1B, one of the biggest ETF debuts ever.
there was a catch though...
BITO didn’t hold actual Bitcoin but it invested primarily in CME Bitcoin futures, meaning its performance could differ from Bitcoin’s spot price.
still, the launch marked a major shift in how Bitcoin could reach traditional investors.
the timeline was wild too.
the following day, Bitcoin set a new ATH near $67,000.
BITO wasn’t the final destination but it was a major step towards getting Bitcoin onto Wall Street.
Rogue Remembers.