Charles Schwab, a multinational financial services conglomerate, has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to develop a Crypto Economy ETF in response to customer demand for cryptocurrency investments. This filing comes only a week after Schwab’s chief of investor services, Jonathan Craig, informed a source that one in every six Schwab clients has indicated an interest in investing in cryptocurrency. He stated that about 16% of Schwab’s clients want to invest in cryptocurrencies in the first half of the year.
The proposed Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) seeks to replicate the performance of an index designed to provide worldwide exposure to enterprises that may profit from the creation or use of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. According to the official filing, the ETF will use the Schwab Crypto Economy Index as a benchmark index and will invest at least 80% of its net assets in stocks of companies that use Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets.
An ETF allows investors to bet on the price of a basket of assets without actually holding or owning any of them. According to the filing, Schwab’s Crypto Economy ETF will not invest directly in cryptocurrency or initial coin offerings (ICO).
