According to Bloomberg, CoinShares, one of Europe's largest cryptocurrency asset managers, has secured the option to acquire exchange-traded funds (ETFs) from competitor Valkyrie. The latter is preparing a spot Bitcoin fund that is awaiting regulatory approval. This move gives St. Helier, Jersey-based CoinShares the right to buy the entirety of Valkyrie's funds division, including ETFs that have pending applications but have not yet launched. Valkyrie currently runs a Bitcoin-and-Ether-futures ETF and a fund based on Bitcoin miners. The two funds have total assets of around $57 million.
Valkyrie will remain an independent company until CoinShares decides to exercise its acquisition option, which is open until the end of the first quarter next year. The Nashville, Tennessee-based firm seeks to launch a highly anticipated ETF that would track spot Bitcoin prices. CoinShares has been making inroads into the US market, announcing a hedge fund division in September as it looked to make its services available to American investors. Since then, cryptocurrencies have been staging a comeback as investors anticipate the eventual debut of the spot Bitcoin funds. The largest digital token, up more than 100% this year, is trading around $37,000, though that's still nowhere near its 2021 all-time high of nearly $69,000.
