ETF Tied to Bitcoin Futures Withdrawn After SEC Staff Request

Reality Shares ETF Trusts, a division of Blockforce Capital, is withdrawing an exchange-traded fund proposal that, if approved, would have included exposure to bitcoin futures.

The move comes just days after the proposal for the Reality Shares Blockforce Global Currency Strategy ETF was first submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to a note submitted to the SEC on Tuesday, the company withdrew its ETF proposal at the request of agency staffers.

"I can confirm that we did withdraw it and it was withdrawn because the staff are still taking the position that it's not appropriate to file a registered 40 Act fund with cryptocurrency exposure at this time."

The lawyer added that the Investment Company Act of 1940 - which the proposal was filed under - would have resulted in the proposal becoming automatically approved within 75 days, which is a specific aspect with which SEC staffers took issue.

Blockforce Capital could not be reached for comment.

The ETF proposal would have invested in a portfolio of sovereign debt instruments, alongside bitcoin futures products from the CME and Cboe exchanges.

Reality Shares also left the door open to investing in other bitcoin futures products after the ETF began trading.