Wealth manager Cetera has approved four spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which its managers can now offer to their clients. Cetera has over $190 billion in assets under management.
Cetera selected the Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTCO), Franklin Bitcoin ETF (EZBC), Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) and Blackrock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) for its platform. Those ETF providers “track records of successfully launching new product strategies,” according to a statement. Matt Fries, Cetera's head of investment products and partner solutions, said in the statement:
"As expected, we are prudently embracing bitcoin ETFs and we prioritized developing this important guidance to help our financial professionals implement these products in client portfolios."
Cetera will begin offering its 12,000 affiliated financial professionals training on the spot BTC ETFs on March 25.
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According to The Wall Street Journal, Cetera will make the BTC ETFs available only to commission-based accounts, with limits on investments based on clients’ taste for risk.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved 11 spot BTC ETFs on Jan. 10. The newly available financial products and the return to a bull market have resulted in enormous cash inflows into BTC, and that flow is expected to continue, even with minor corrections in the BTC market, as institutional and corporate interest grow.
Cetera is not the first wealth manager to take the plunge into spot BTC ETFs. Bloomberg reported in February that Charles Schwab and Robinhood Markets began offering the products as soon as they were available, and UBS offered them on a more limited basis. Bank of America’s Merrill and Wells Fargo’s brokerage unit were offering their wealth management clients on request.
Meanwhile, political opposition to spot BTC ETFs is emerging in the United States. On March 11, two Democratic senator wrote to SEC chair Gary Gensler to urge him not to approve any more spot BTC ETFs.
According to Cetera, 50 million people owned Bitcoin in February, up by 20 million from a year ago.
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