投资者大力推动购买比特币而不必购买数字货币。类似期货一类的产品，在去年12月初抵达时，比特币上涨至20,000美元。

然而，对投资者提供的最大奖励 - 主要是制度化品种，仍然持有比特币的怀疑 - 是一个交易所交易基金（ETF）。从Winklevoss双胞胎2017年3月的首次尝试开始，通过美国证券交易委员会（SEC）一直试图让比特币ETF暂时搁置一段时间。

与此同时，一款名为Bitcoin Tracker One的产品自2015年起在斯德哥尔摩纳斯达克交易所进行交易，提供所谓的交易所交易票据（ETN），本周突然以美元报价。

ETN被认为是许多人追逐的比特币ETF的“软”替代品，但即使采取这一举措，美国的受众也可以访问它，与其国家的法规和美国证券交易委员会（SEC）分开），市场上没有多少动静。

看来，即使有购买ETN的选择，美国投资者 -  华尔街资金 - 也不会买账。市场并不令人兴奋 - 这个市场因将新闻视为上下行动的催化剂而臭名昭着。这可能与这个ETN不是ETF这一事实有关，但也可能是重度看跌情绪。

为何选择ETN或ETF？

由于投资者不拥有实际商品，这些产品允许投资相对安全的比特币，受到许多人的高度赞扬，但他们也有批评者。

ETF是一种可销售的证券，可追踪基金指数，商品或一篮子资产 - 在这种情况下，资产是比特币。那么，如果美国证券交易委员会允许比特币ETF，会发生什么呢？该基金会购买相关数量的实际比特币并将这些资金分配到股票中，然后分配给股东。

因此，对于一直将ETF用于其他资产和商品的机构投资者而言，它们使得它更加舒适和熟悉，这可能就是为什么许多人认为它可能是比特币领域的大量资金进入的一个重要切入点。

一个ETN，在另一方面-被看作是一个“软” ETF -由其发行人支持，如银行，而不是资产池。通常，他们专注于那些不易在基金上使用的的深奥策略。

关于加密货币生态系统中是否需要这些类型产品的有趣辩论往往被空间的广泛和无所不包的性质所夸大。有交易员，区块链工程师，快速致富类型，加密无政府主义者和加密货币纯粹主义者，他们都围绕比特币和其他加密货币运作，并且都有自己的信念。

Andreas Antonopoulos完全反对比特币ETF的想法，并指出：

“我将打破你的泡沫。我知道很多人都希望看到ETF发生，因为'to theMOON博基尼以及所有这些。[...]我仍然认为它会发生，我只是认为这是一个糟糕的主意。我反对ETF。我认为比特币ETF将对生态系统造成损害。“

安东诺普洛斯的批评并不是说ETF会导致价格下跌或投资停止。事实上，他接着说：

“每个人都对ETF感到非常兴奋，因为我们在其他市场看到的是，当ETF变得可用时 - 正如我们在黄金中看到的那样 - 价格确实大幅上涨，突然之间，这种商品可供更多投资者使用。而这些投资者依然存在。“

虽然从价格的角度来看，许多人认为ETF是加密市场现在需要的开创者，但Antonopoulos认为引入ETF的真正危险在于其他地方：

“但是，另一方面是，这些商品市场受到严重操纵，总是存在这些主张。开放这些ETF只会增加制度化投资者操纵商品价格的能力 - 不仅仅是在他们作为ETF交易的市场上，而且更广泛地。“

为什么这个ETN不是市场推动者

考虑到当制度化投资者进入市场时，ETF可能会使商品价格飙升的说法，这个选项的公告 - 即一个能够以美元交易的ETN - 似乎很奇怪。市场。

人们可以假设ETF的一个较小的，“更安全”的选择将被抢购并且对于制度化市场而言很受欢迎，但也许这些投资者持有 - 或者仍然过于悲观。

KKM Financial的创始人兼首席执行官Jeff Kilburg 解释说，比特币及其上下波动性将继续下去，直到ETF达成决定，甚至ETN也不会有太多发言权。

“我认为会持续波动，但这实际上取决于这个交易所交易基金。[...]这些长期看涨的买家必须明白，人们将能够在全球范围内获得交易所交易的产品，并且如果有的话 - 我们确实会得到一些绝对的决定，即它即将到来[...]今年秋天 - 然后我认为反弹仍在继续。“

基尔堡对ETF在市场上的实力显然持乐观态度，全球投资市场巨头萨斯奎汉纳国际集团数字资产部门负责人巴特史密斯也表示乐观，他说ETN获得了一些牵引力，但是远不及ETF的可能性。

“你现在看到的是我们回到了原来的位置。一个月前，我们谈论的是爆发，但这是熊市反弹。在我们突破新高之前，人们不会购买。“

史密斯在Kilburn的推理中得出结论，这个ETN并不像潜在的ETF影响那么大：

“如果受到美国证券交易委员会监管，这一并不像想象中有那么大的影响。美国的一个ETF会产生更大的影响。但是，如果有一些东西正在推动新的资金投入比特币的价格，那么你会想象它的价格会提高。“

ETF圣杯

随着ETN对美国投资者的开放 - 以及通过一些制度化的交易公司进行的期货交易 - 比特币仍未达到新的价格高度。由于美国证券交易委员会继续考虑各种比特币ETF的申请，因此对潜在的ETF有很多炒作。

虽然没有人可以预测比特币价格的未来以及它对ETF的消息会如何反应，但大多数人的情绪都很强烈，它将产生重大影响。感觉就是有一大笔钱等待进入比特币空间，这种空间被非传统的投资方式所阻碍。如果这个障碍被打破，比特币是否有可能再次超过20,000美元？

原文：

There has been a big push for investors to be able to buy Bitcoin without actually having to buy the digital currency. Products — such as futures — have entered the market and upon their arrival in early December last year, Bitcoin rallied toward $20,000.

However, the biggest prize on offer for investors — mainly of the institutionalised variety, who are still skeptical about owning Bitcoin — is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). There has been a push, through the SEC, to try and get a Bitcoin ETF in place for some time now, starting with the Winklevoss twins’ first attempt in March 2017.

Meanwhile, a product, called Bitcoin Tracker One, which has been trading on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange since 2015, offered what is known as an exchange-traded note (ETN), and this week, it was suddenly quoted in dollars.

The ETN is considered a ‘soft’ alternative to the Bitcoin ETF that many are chasing after, but even with this move to make it accessible to an audience in the United States, separate from their country’s regulations and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), there was not much movement in the market.

It seems that, even with the option to buy an ETN, U.S. investors — and the Wall Street money they can bring to Bitcoin — are not biting. There was no excitement in the market — a market notorious for taking news as a catalyst for up-and-down movements. This could have to do with the fact that this ETN is not an ETF, but it could also be the heavy bearish sentiment.

Why an ETN or an ETF?

These products, which allow to invest in Bitcoin with relative safety as investors do not own the actual commodity, have been highly praised by many, but they also have their detractors.

An ETF is a marketable security that tracks either an index of funds, a commodity or a basket of assets — and in this case, the asset is Bitcoin. So, what would happen, should the SEC allow a Bitcoin ETF, is that the fund would purchase an underlying amount of actual Bitcoin and distribute those funds into shares, which are then distributed to shareholders.

Thus, they make it far more comfortable and familiar for the institutional investor who has been using ETFs for other assets and commodities, and this might be why many think it could be a big entry point for a lot of money into the Bitcoin space.

An ETN, on the other hand — seen as a ‘soft’ ETF — is a debt instrument that is backed by its issuers, such as a bank, rather than a pool of assets. Often, they focus on esoteric strategies that don’t easily fit into a fund.

The interesting debate about whether these types of products are needed in the cryptocurrency ecosystem is often exaggerated by the broad and all-encompassing nature of the space. There are traders, blockchain engineers, get-rich-quick types, crypto-anarchists and cryptocurrency purists who are all operating around Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and all have their own beliefs.

Andreas Antonopoulos is quite against the idea of a Bitcoin ETF, stating:

“I am going to burst your bubble [...] I know a lot of people want to see an ETF happen, because of ‘to the moon’ and Lambos and all of that. [...] I still think it is going to happen, I just think it is a terrible idea. I am against ETFs. I think a Bitcoin ETF is going to be damaging to the ecosystem.”

Antonopoulos’ criticism is not that an ETF would cause prices to drop or investments to stop. In fact, he goes on to state:

“Everybody is so excited about ETFs, because what we have seen in other markets is [that] when an ETF becomes available — as we saw in gold — the price really increases dramatically, as suddenly that commodity becomes available to a lot more investors. And these investors pile on.”

While many see ETFs as the kickstart that the crypto markets need right now from a price point of view, Antonopoulos argues that the real dangers of the introduction of ETFs lie somewhere else:

“But, the other side of it is that there [are] always these claims that these commodities markets are heavily manipulated. And opening up these ETFs only increases the ability of institutionalized investors to manipulate the prices of commodities — not just on the markets where they are traded as an ETF, but also more broadly.”

Why this ETN is not a market-mover

Taking into consideration assertions that ETFs could skyrocket the price of a commodity as institutionalized investors pile into the market, it could seem strange that the announcement of this option — i.e., an ETN that is able to be traded with dollars — brought very little movement in the market.

One could assume that a smaller, ‘safer’ option to an ETF would be snapped up and popular for the institutionalized market, but perhaps these investors are holding out — or are still too bearish.

Jeff Kilburg, the founder and CEO of KKM Financial, explains that Bitcoin and its up-and-down volatility is going to continue until a decision is reached on ETFs and that even the ETN won’t have much say in it all.

“I think there will be continued volatility, but it really is contingent on this exchange-traded fund. [...] These long-term, bullish buyers have to understand that people are going to have access globally to an exchange-traded product and, if that comes in — and we do get some absolute determination that it is coming short-term [...] this fall — then I think the rally continues.”

Kilburg is clearly optimistic about the power an ETF would have on the market, and so is Bart Smith, the head of the digital assets division of the global investment market giant Susquehanna International Group, who says that the ETN has gained some traction, but is nowhere near as explosive as the possibility of an ETF.

“What you are seeing now is that we are right back to where we were. A month ago, we were talking about breaking out, but this is a bear market rally. Until we break to new highs, people are not buying.”

Smith follows in Kilburn's reasoning that this ETN is not as big as a potential ETF would be:

“This is not as big as [it would be] if it was SEC regulated. An ETF in the U.S. — that was SEC registered — would have a much bigger effect. But, if there is something that is driving new money into the price of Bitcoin, then you would imagine it would raise it up.”

The ETF Holy Grail

With an ETN now available to U.S. investors — as well as futures trading possible through a number of institutionalized trading houses — Bitcoin is still not reaching new heights. There is a lot of hype and excitement about a possible ETF, as the SEC continues to mull over a number of applications for various Bitcoin ETFs.

While no one can predict the future of the price of Bitcoin and how it will react to the news of an ETF, the sentiment is strong from most that it will make a big difference. The feeling is that there is a mountain of money waiting to enter the Bitcoin space that is being held back by nontraditional methods of investing. If this barrier is broken down, is it possible Bitcoin will surpass $20,000 again?