We just got the very good news that US customers can now buy bitcoin via the ticker CXBTF.

Bloomberg and countless other reported the story.

Real bitcoins with a custodian

What is critical is that this is a fund that holds real bitcoin. This means that if you buy this thing in the US, money goes to Sweden (close to it) and bitcoins get bought in swedish crones.

Thomas Lee pointed to the key aspects via his tweet:

US ETFs wont be buying bitcoins

All the US ETFs that have a chance of getting approved by the SEC will be based on futures, which are settled in USD.

This is bad because it does only create demand indirectly and allows folks to manipulate the marekt more easily. Though I am not sure it matters.

It is however always better when people buy BTC instead of some bet onto the asset they are trying to get exposure to.

We just don't need a (US) ETF

In general I don't like ETFs that much. It is easy to buy bitcoin at it is simply better for the infrastructure if people or institutions buy bitcoins directly. However for some people buying BTC on Wall Street may be more convenient. Then this solution is pretty darn good and because real bitcoins are behind it much better than any US solutions on the horizon.

As a result we do not really need the US ETF any more. Us customers can now buy the equivalent of an ETF via their US brokers.

I do think this may make it more likely for an ETF to get approved as there is now already a product on the market in the US that is a foreign product. I am sure the SEC prefers US customers to buy US products over foreign ones.

We will see...