Digital asset manager CoinShares has filed a post-effective amendment with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to register three novel exchange-traded funds (ETFs) designed to track Bitcoin's volatility. The proposed suite, filed via the Valkyrie ETF Trust II shell, includes the CoinShares Bitcoin Volatility ETF (CBIX), a leveraged variant, and an inverse variant. These funds aim to provide investors with exposure to the CME CF Bitcoin Volatility Index (BVX), a metric that measures the 30-day implied volatility of Bitcoin options on the CME, essentially serving as a Bitcoin equivalent of the traditional market's VIX index.
The funds could begin trading as early as June 2026 if the SEC raises no objections during the 75-day effective period that began on March 23. The filing is in its early stages and does not yet list management fees. A person familiar with the filings noted that "This suite of ETFs seeks to profit from increased or decreased volatility of Bitcoin, and may act as a strategy to manage risk in the convenient ETF wrapper." CoinShares completed its acquisition of Valkyrie Funds LLC in March 2024, which provided the sponsor rights and U.S. market foothold necessary for this filing.
In a separate but equally ambitious development, Cryptex has formally filed for a Digital Market Cap ETF designed to directly hold approximately 30 different cryptocurrencies. This filing, first reported by Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, represents a significant evolution from existing single-asset crypto ETFs. The proposed fund would not use derivatives but would hold the underlying assets directly in custody, offering pure exposure to a broad basket of the crypto market.
The Cryptex ETF faces a complex regulatory path, with the SEC likely to scrutinize custody arrangements for 30 different assets, market surveillance agreements, and the liquidity of the constituent cryptocurrencies. The standard SEC review period is 240 days, but analysts anticipate a lengthy process for this novel product. If approved, the ETF would provide a massive source of institutional demand for its underlying assets and serve as a core portfolio holding for investors seeking diversified crypto exposure. The specific 30 cryptocurrencies were not disclosed, but analysts infer the portfolio would likely include large-cap assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), major altcoins such as Solana (SOL) and Cardano (ADA), and tokens from sectors like DeFi and Layer-1 platforms.
