According to aWednesday report by Israeli media outlet Calcalist, six Bitcoin-based mutual funds are on track to start trading in Israel after securing key regulatory approval.
This comes after the Israel Securities Authority, Israel's national securities regulator, greenlit the aforementioned products earlier this month.
IBI and More are among the funds whose products have been approved by the regulator.
The novel products will be launched on Dec. 31. Just like traditional mutual funds, they will be available for purchase at banks and investment houses, according to the report.
The upcoming launch of Bitcoin mutual funds in Israel will come nearly a year after spot-based Bitcoin exchange-traded funds had their groundbreaking debut in the U.S. According to data provided by SoSoValue, these ETFs have now accumulated roughly $110 billion in total net assets. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF alone boasts $56 billion worth of assets.
As reported by U.Today, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently greenlit two additional cryptocurrency ETF products that simultaneously offer exposure to both Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Eyal Goren, deputy CEO of IBI Funds, told Calcalist that the success of U.S.-based ETFs was the main catalyst that pushed the Bitcoin price substantially higher.
Local industry executives are reportedly disappointed by the timing of the approval. They believe that their clients could have benefited from the massive Bitcoin price surge had the regulator greenlit the mutual funds earlier.
