Winklevoss Brothers Dump Nasdaq For Proposed Bitcoin Fund

Thu Jun 30 2016
Mark Cooper (3173 articles)
Winklevoss Brothers Dump Nasdaq For Proposed Bitcoin Fund

Investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss on Wednesday filed to switch the listing of their proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund to BATS Global Markets from Nasdaq, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Winklevoss brothers, identical twins, had filed their first application for a listing three years ago.

The proposed ETF, the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust, will list 1 million shares at $ 65 each, according to the filing. That is up from a list price of $ 20.09 per share given in the first filing.

The filing did not say why there was a change in trading venues, but over the last year BATS has emerged as one of the fastest-rising trading venues for ETFs. BATS is the second largest U.S. equities market operator.

If approved by the SEC, the Winklevoss ETF would be the first bitcoin ETF issued by a U.S. entity.

The ETF would trade under the ticker symbol COIN.

Gemini Trust Company, the Winklevoss brothers’ trust company, which runs a bitcoin trading venue, has been designated the custodian of the ETF. There was no designated custodian in the previous filings.

Gemini operates a trading platform for bitcoin and for another digital currency, ether.

The ETF’s bitcoin will be valued using the Gemini’s spot price as of 4 p.m. Eastern time each business day, according to the SEC filing.

Bitcoin’s value has been highly volatile, having peaked at over $ 1,200 in late 2013 before crashing after the collapse of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange.

It has since recovered, hitting a more than two-year high of nearly $ 780 last week in the run-up to the British referendum whether the country should leave the European Union. As of late Wednesday, one bitcoin was worth $ 634.24 on the Bitstamp platform.

Mark Cooper

Mark Cooper

Mark Cooper is Political / Stock Market Correspondent. He has been covering Global Stock Markets for more than 6 years.