Bitwise debuted its Bitcoin ETF on NYSE Arca on Thursday. Even though the firm charges a typical fee of 0.2 percent, there are no fees for the first six months or until the assets under management (AUM) reach $1 billion.

Last Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the applications for 11 businesses' spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). As a result, spot Bitcoin ETFs are now available for trading using a regular brokerage account and started listing on US stock exchanges on Thursday.

The SEC was required to approve the issuers' S-1 (or S-3) and 19b-4 forms before the Bitcoin ETF could be approved. ARK 21Shares, Hashdex, VanEck, WisdomTree, Fidelity, Valkyrie, BlackRock, Grayscale, Bitwise, and Franklin Templeton are among these issuers.

Bitcoin ETF issuers are now able to list their securities on three US exchanges: NYSE Arca, Nasdaq, and Cboe BZX, thanks to a change in legislation. These platforms are capable of listing an ETF for Bitcoin as early as today. The applicants had to submit new S-1 applications with all the relevant facts, including the product's fees, before they could be approved.

"After careful review, the Commission has concluded that the proposals comply with the Exchange Act and the relevant rules and regulations applicable to a national securities exchange," the SEC said in its formal filing.

The US-based cryptocurrency index and fund manager Bitwise has announced that it will offer its Bitwise Bitcoin ETF on NYSE Arca today, under the ticker BITB. The company will not charge any fees for the first six months or until the assets under management reach $1 billion worth, although a 0.2 percent management fee will be charged. "Hunter Horsley, CEO of Bitwise, believes there will be a significant market for Bitcoin ETFs like BITB."

Other approved Bitcoin issuers are maintaining competitive fees, and many of them intend to publish and trade their offers going forward. Up until the fund's AUM hits $5 billion, BlackRock, the biggest asset manager in the world, will charge a fee of 0.2 percent. VanEck and Ark 21Shares will both charge a 0.25 percent fee. Like Bitwise, Ark 21Shares will not charge anything over the first six months or until the fund's assets under management (AUM) reaches $1 billion. Investors in Bitcoin ETFs will instead pay the maximum price of 1.5 percent, which Grayscale has set across all authorized issuers.

About ten years after the Winklevoss twins' first 2013 application, the SEC approved the Bitcoin ETF. A day before the decision, the regulator's official X account was compromised, resulting in a fraudulent declaration of approval; therefore, the approval procedure was not without controversy. Even though the false tweet was quickly removed, it resulted in a brief spike in Bitcoin prices and the liquidation of $90 million in long and short bets.

Standard Chartered analysts forecast that the first year's worth of interest in Bitcoin ETFs may reach $50 billion to $100 billion. Some economists, on the other hand, are more pessimistic and expect inflows of roughly $55 billion over the next five years. The head of digital at Galaxy Research, Alex Thorn, predicts a $14 billion inflow in the first year. VanEck, meanwhile, projects the inflow for the first quarter to reach roughly $2.4 billion.

In an official statement following the clearance, SEC Chief Gary Gensler cited a court decision that rejected the regulator's appeal against the "listing and trading of the proposed ETP by Grayscale."

The law and the courts' interpretation of it serve as the Commission's guiding principles, Gensler emphasized. "The Commission's action today is confined to ETPs that hold a single non-security commodity, namely bitcoin," he stated further. This should not be seen as a sign that the Commission is prepared to accept listing requirements for cryptocurrency asset securities. Additionally, this approval makes no inferences about the Commission's position regarding the legitimacy of other crypto assets or the current non-compliance of some market participants with federal securities laws.