Former World Gold Council Exec Develops New Bitcoin ETF

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The former managing director of the World Gold Council and the portfolio manager behind SPDR Gold Shares is developing a bitcoin exchange-traded fund with boutique asset manager Kryptoin Investment Advisors.

"The benefits and challenges, when it comes to bitcoin as an asset class, are similar to what they were when the Gold Council brought SPDR Gold Shares to the market. There was also a lot of learning the SEC had to go through to fully understand and gain a level of comfort with the underlined gold market."

Previously, Toussaint managed SPDR Gold Shares, one of the largest gold ETFs in the world, while serving as the CEO of the World Gold Trust Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the World Gold Council.

In a 112-page order, the SEC rejected Bitwise's ETF proposal on Oct. 6, noting that crypto markets are still prone to manipulation, while VanEck withdrew its bitcoin ETF application in September, even before the commission was able to render a final decision on its application.

The commission now only has one bitcoin ETF proposal currently sitting before it.

Toussaint's experience with the first gold ETF is informing their strategy.

Bitcoin has met resistance from the regulators, just as the gold ETF did, he said, in the sense that non-publicly listed securities underlying an ETF structure that requires exchanges, gold and crypto, to be more transparent with their financial pricing, volume and other transaction data.

"Of course, we want to get it approved as soon as possible, but the firm is realistic, in terms of its expectations, given the recent comments through the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF order."

"The challenge of launching a bitcoin ETF comes full circle in trying to have regulators be comfortable enough with it to approve it for investment by that wider investor base. This was a huge hurdle for leveraged and inverse ETFs, but issuers overcame that eventually, and it's just a matter of time before they overcome this one."

"The CFTC's approvals for bitcoin and tether to be traded on the futures markets is a good sign for us to launch the bitcoin ETF," Kim said, referring to the once equally elusive process at the Commodity and Futures Trading Commission.

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