ProShares Unveils First U.S. ETF To Bet Against Bitcoin

ProShares, the investment firm that launched one of the first bitcoin futures exchange-traded funds (ETF) in the United States, has just announced the launch of a new vehicle that will allow investors to bet against the price of the bellwether cryptocurrency.

First Bitcoin Short ETF To Debut On NYSE 

Announced Monday, the ProShares Short Bitcoin Strategy (BITI) offers an opportunity to profit from bitcoin price drops. The product is designed to deliver the inverse performance of the S&P CME Bitcoin Futures index and will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on June 21. It will get exposure through bitcoin futures contracts.

“As recent times have shown, Bitcoin can drop in value,” ProShares CEO Michael Sapir said in the press release. “BITI affords investors who believe that the price of Bitcoin will drop with an opportunity to potentially profit or to hedge their cryptocurrency holdings.”

The launch of the bitcoin short ETF comes amid depressing times for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The leading crypto recently slumped below the $18K level for the first time since 2020 but has since bounced back above $20,000 as of publication time.

In investment, shorting is a strategy that speculates on the price of an asset falling in the future. This means investors sell the asset with the expectation of buying it at a lower price. With ProShares’ new product, investors can “conveniently obtain short exposure to bitcoin through buying an ETF in a traditional brokerage account.”

ETFs that track the price of bitcoin are fairly popular in the United States because the Securities and Exchange Commission has been reluctant to green-light an investment product with direct exposure to the top cryptocurrency.

In October 2021, ProShares became the first company to list a bitcoin futures-related ETF — a development that triggered BTC’s climb past $60,000 in the weeks that followed. 

Crypto enthusiasts will be crossing their fingers that the listing of the short bitcoin ETF on NYSE doesn’t have a similarly strong impact on the bitcoin price in reverse.