SEC Reviews Cboe Bid to List 3x Bitcoin and Ether ETFs

U.S. traders could gain access to bitcoin and ether funds designed to deliver three times each asset’s daily performance under a Cboe proposal covering six leveraged commodity products. The SEC initially has 45 days from Federal Register publication to approve, reject, or begin proceedings.

Volatility Shares LLC sponsors the VS Trust behind the lineup: the 3x Gold ETF, 3x Silver ETF, 3x Bitcoin ETF, 3x Ether ETF, 3x Crude Oil ETF and 3x Natural Gas ETF. Each fund targets three times its benchmark’s daily performance before fees and expenses, and each would operates as a commodity pool under the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) rather than as an investment company.

Each crypto fund rolls roughly 20% of its expiring positions per day across a five-day window ahead of the near-month contract’s expiry. Bitcoin and ether both underlie CME futures with at least six months of history, one eligibility criterion the exchange cites.

The SEC must first approve Cboe’s Section 19(b) exchange rule change. Separately, the trust will file a registration statement on Form S-1, and shares can only arrive on the exchange after that S-1 becomes effective. The exchange-rule and registration reviews proceed separately.

A minimum of 100,000 shares of each fund must exist at launch, with authorized participants creating or redeeming them in cash blocks of 10,000. An intraday indicative value goes out every 15 seconds during regular trading hours. The exchange must halt trading if the daily net asset value is not disseminated to all market participants simultaneously and may halt trading if the intraday feed is interrupted.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) imposes heavier sales-practice and customer margin requirements on leveraged and inverse securities, which member firms that carry customer accounts must follow.