What Is a Spot Bitcoin ETF? The Motley Fool

For first-time or traditional investors, ETFs offer a safe, simple on-ramp into the digital asset world. Bitcoin trades 24/7 throughout the world, but remember, the 11 spot products that were approved will trade only when markets are open, even though their underlying investment will be trading all of the time. For example, if you are looking at the spot price on a weekend, you will not see the ETF price changing until markets open the coming week. Trading began on Thursday, with buying and selling for at least one ETF, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, kicking off as early as 4 a.m. The permissionless nature of crypto is what makes it revolutionary, but that can only happen through secure self-custody. Ledger’s lineup of secure devices makes managing your digital assets easy and secure.

What’s the big deal with spot Bitcoin ETFs?

While accounting for only a fraction of the global gold supply, Gold ETFs drastically impacted gold trading dynamics, offering enhanced market volume and liquidity. Drawing parallels, a spot bitcoin ETF could introduce a new era of bitcoin adoption and increase its market liquidity. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have a reasonable reputation as volatile digital assets and, as crypto-based assets ETFs are no different. While spot Bitcoin ETFs offer exposure to cryptocurrency, investors should be aware of the risk of market fluctuations. Spot ETFs add major liquidity to crypto markets simply by offering investors more options on how to gain exposure to a given digital asset.

She decides to invest in a spot bitcoin ETF, XYZ Bitcoin ETF, which is traded on the stock exchange. The cryptocurrency itself has never been hacked, but several crypto exchanges have fallen prey to scams or security breaches over the years. In the short term, more investors will find it easier to invest in bitcoin through these spot ETFs.

Limits to Cryptocurrency Trading

The information provided does not constitute any legal, tax or accounting advice. While you can find these on centralized and decentralized exchanges, you’ll find that Ledger offers seamless on-ramping within the Ledger Live ecosystem, via partners like MoonPay and Coinify. Here, you can easily buy (and sell) cryptocurrencies using your regular credit card, in conjunction with your Ledger device. After receiving SEC approval on January 10th, 10 of the first 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs immediately began trading the following day. They saw a combined trading volume of around $4.6B on their first day, with the offerings from Grayscale, BlackRock, and Fidelity attracting a significant amount of that trade activity. But what exactly is a spot Bitcoin ETF, and how is it different from other kinds of Bitcoin main incentives of bitcoin mining 2020 ETFs?

Instead, these ETFs invest in Bitcoin futures contracts, which are standardized agreements to buy or sell a specified amount of Bitcoin at a predetermined price on a future date. The ETF manager actively handles these contracts on behalf of investors, and the fund’s returns are reflected in its net asset value (NAV). Bitcoin ETFs simplify the process of investing in Bitcoin by allowing investors to gain exposure through regulated stock exchanges. These funds eliminate the complexities of managing private keys, wallets, and secure storage, which are common concerns for direct Bitcoin ownership. This distinction plays a crucial role in the performance and appeal of these funds. Bitcoin spot ETFs play an important role by bridging the gap between traditional investment methods and cryptocurrencies.

Institutions

Bitcoin spot ETFs encourage traditional investors to participate in the market, which in turn helps in expediting the mainstream adoption of Bitcoin in traditional financial markets. Investing in urban dictionary Fidelity’s spot bitcoin ETF is straightforward and can be done through most brokerage accounts. Fidelity’s reputation as a leading asset manager provides confidence for investors looking to enter the bitcoin market through a regulated and well-established financial institution.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs Comparison by Fee

The ETF’s value is tied to the current market price of bitcoin, providing a straightforward way to invest in bitcoin through traditional stock markets. Spot bitcoin ETFs make it easier for retail investors and traders to buy and sell an asset tied to the current value of bitcoin without needing to hold bitcoin itself. They also allow investors seeking exposure to bitcoin in retirement accounts to have a much simpler option than opening a self-directed IRA that could hold bitcoin directly. Bitcoin ETFs are exchange-traded funds designed to track the value of Bitcoin and trade on traditional stock market exchanges, such as the NYSE, instead of cryptocurrency exchanges. Bitcoin spot ETFs track the real-time price movements of Bitcoin and work accordingly.

  • In contrast, a spot bitcoin ETF is an open-end fund with a more dynamic share issuance system.
  • While you can find these on centralized and decentralized exchanges, you’ll find that Ledger offers seamless on-ramping within the Ledger Live ecosystem, via partners like MoonPay and Coinify.
  • While this marks a milestone, uncertainties remain regarding future approvals and regulatory developments.
  • Instead of investors needing to buy and secure their own bitcoin, they can buy shares of the ETF which represent ownership of a portion of the fund’s bitcoin holdings.
  • There are two types of Bitcoin ETFs – Bitcoin Spot ETFs and Bitcoin Futures ETFs.

Bitcoin has been one of the best-performing assets over the last decade, rising from a relatively obscure peer-to-peer payment network to a global phenomenon. As the original cryptocurrency, bitcoin has spurred an entirely new asset class that now has over $1 trillion in market capitalization. Until then, regulators were reluctant to approve any spot Bitcoin ETF applications, citing concerns over market manipulation, fraud, custody, and investor protection.

Have Bitcoin ETFs Been Approved?

  • ETFs have long been a popular financial product, offering investors a way to track assets or baskets of assets, such as stocks, bonds or commodities.
  • Spot Bitcoin ETFs represent a significant evolution in cryptocurrency, offering a regulated and simplified way to gain exposure to Bitcoin’s prices.
  • So, it is important to do your own research and understand the terms and conditions thoroughly before investing in Bitcoin spot ETFs.
  • As mentioned above, spot crypto ETFs have to hold the underlying cryptocurrency asset.
  • SPDR Gold Shares, launched in 2004, rapidly accumulated over $1 billion in assets.

You can even buy your cryptocurrency directly through our buy providers, all while enjoying the battle-tested security of your Ledger device thanks to Ledger Live. Spot Bitcoin ETFs are ones that specifically track the real-time value of Bitcoin, aka its “spot” price. To do this, these funds hold a certain amount of BTC, which they use to back up the shares of the ETF. This gives investors more direct exposure to Bitcoin than the other major type of Bitcoin ETF – the Bitcoin Futures ETF. As the cryptocurrency market evolves, spot bitcoin ETFs are poised to play a pivotal role in bridging the gap between traditional finance (“TradFi”) and the digital asset world. Imagine Sarah, an investor intrigued by bitcoin but wary of managing the cryptocurrency directly.

A spot bitcoin ETF is a fund that tracks the price of bitcoin (BTC) in the spot market, where cryptocurrencies are bought and sold for immediate delivery. Instead of investors needing to buy and secure their own bitcoin, they can buy shares of the ETF which represent ownership of a portion of the fund’s bitcoin holdings. best bitcoin exchanges of 2021 An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a financial product that is tied to the price of other financial instruments. This structure gives investors a way to gain exposure to an asset or a bundle of assets without buying or owning the asset(s) directly. ETFs can be composed of all kinds of assets including stocks, commodities, and bonds.

Sarah gained exposure to bitcoin’s price movements while enjoying the ease of trading on a familiar stock exchange platform. Spot ETFs are designed to hold an equivalent amount of the underlying asset that is represented by the ETF. This gives investors direct exposure to the spot price of bitcoin without having to purchase or store it themselves.

This model mirrors traditional investment structures, fitting neatly into the portfolios of mainstream investors and potentially broadening Bitcoin’s investor base among both retail and institutional investors. Introducing a spot bitcoin ETF could reshape the bitcoin and broader financial markets. SPDR Gold Shares, launched in 2004, rapidly accumulated over $1 billion in assets.

A spot Bitcoin ETF is an exchange-traded fund that directly tracks the price of Bitcoin by holding the cryptocurrency itself. Similar to spot gold ETFs, which store physical gold bullion, spot Bitcoin ETFs purchase and store Bitcoin as their primary asset. For example, if Bitcoin’s price rises by 10%, the ETF’s value is expected to increase by a similar percentage, minus management fees. FBTC seeks to track bitcoin’s price performance as measured by the Fidelity Bitcoin Reference Rate.

The Christmas Tree in Space

Here’s a holiday treat from outer space: The Christmas Tree Cluster!

Imagine the beautiful green, wispy branches of a Christmas tree — adorned with red, blue and white lights — gracefully on display in the heavens above.

The Christmas Tree Cluster
The Christmas Tree Cluster (a.k.a. “NGC 2264”) is located in the constellation Monoceros, near the Name A Star Live constellations Orion and Gemini.

Newborn stars, hidden behind thick dust, are revealed in this image of a section of the Christmas Tree Cluster from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Infant stars appear as pink and red specks toward the center and appear to have formed in regularly spaced intervals along linear structures in a configuration that resembles the spokes of a wheel or the pattern of a snowflake. Hence, astronomers have nicknamed this the “Snowflake Cluster.”

Star-forming clouds like this one are dynamic and evolving structures. Since the stars trace the straight line pattern of spokes of a wheel, scientists believe that these are newborn stars, or “protostars.” At a mere 100,000 years old, these infant structures have yet to “crawl” away from their location of birth. Over time, the natural drifting motions of each star will break this order, and the snowflake design will be no more.

Like a dusty cosmic finger pointing up to the newborn clusters, Spitzer also illuminates the optically dark and dense Cone Nebula, the tip of which can be seen towards the upper right corner of the image.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/P.S. Teixeira (Center for Astrophysics)

And here’s some other neat space imagery for you!

ESO Observatory
An outstanding image of the sky over European  Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory.  Image Credit: ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org)

The object that is glowing intensely red in the image is the Carina Nebula.  The Carina Nebula lies in the constellation of Carina (The Keel), about 7500 light-years from Earth. This cloud of glowing gas and dust is the brightest nebula in the sky and contains several of the brightest and most massive stars known in the Milky Way, such as Eta Carinae. The Carina Nebula is a perfect test-bed for astronomers to unveil the mysteries of the violent birth and death of massive stars.  Click here for more information about this image.

Finally, here is a beautiful video — set to equally beautiful music — showing the night skies over Cornwall and Scilly, in Great Britain.


Name a star for that special someone this Christmas!
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The Best Shooting Stars of the Year

The best display of shooting stars all year — the annual “Geminid meteor shower” — is going on now! Although the peak occurs over the evening of Saturday, December 14, a bright Moon will interfere with this year’s Geminids, meaning that only the brightest Geminid shooting stars will be visible. In this article we’ll discuss what a meteor shower is, how to view the shooting stars, and when to view them.

Watching a meteor shower
The best way to view a meteor shower is to lie back and look up — no telescope needed!

Continue reading “The Best Shooting Stars of the Year”

The Info on Your Star Certificate

Star Certificate
Name A Star Live Star Certificate

All Name A Star Live gift sets include a letter-size Star Certificate that displays the name of your star, what the star is named in honor of (such as a graduation, an anniversary, love, Christmas, Valentine’s Day), the star’s registration date, a personal message you write for your gift recipient, and the astronomical coordinates of your star. Continue reading “The Info on Your Star Certificate”

How to Download Your Launch Certificate

1. Visit the My Sky section of the Name A Star Live website at  mysky.nameastarlive.com/Account/LogOn

2.

My Sky login page
The “My Sky” section of the Name A Star Live website.
  • If you created an account with us before, log in with your username and password. If you don’t remember your password, you can create a new one. NOTE: Please do not create a new account now and expect to find your Launch Certificate — the system does not work that way.
  • If you did not create an account with us in the past, then use the “LOOKUP BY ORDER NUMBER” option. You will find your order number in the extreme, lower, right-hand corner of your Star Certificate. You’ll also find this number in your e-mail receipt we sent you at the time of purchase.
Star Certificate
Your Order Number appears in the extreme, lower, right-hand corner of your Star Certificate, highlighted in red here.

3. You should automatically be taken to the “My Stars” section of the site. If not, click on either of the “My Stars” links in My Sky.

My Sky webpage
The “My Stars” links are highlighted in red in this image.

4. Now that you’re in “My Stars,” click on the “LAUNCH CERTIFICATE” link.

My Stars section
In the My Stars section, click on the “LAUNCH CERTIFICATE” link.

5. A popup box will appear. Click on “Download Certificate” next to the mission of your choice, e.g., “Heritage Flight.” Note that only the mission name(s) that your star name flew on will be displayed. A letter-size PDF file will then download to your computer. For the best effect, we recommend printing this letter-size PDF document on glossy or photographic paper. You may print this document as many times  as you wish.

Click on the "Download Certificate" link.
Click on the “Download Certificate” link.

How We Launch Your Star Name Into Space

Name A Star Live launch
Name A Star Live launch on an UP Aerospace SpaceLoft XL rocket from Spaceport America, New Mexico

Name A Star Live is the only star-naming service that launches your star’s name into space, and provides you a launch certificate after each launch occurs.  We’re operated by Space Services, Inc. – a real aerospace company that has been launching payloads into space since 1982.

We’re often asked by our customers how, exactly, we launch the star names.

First, we launch more than just your star’s name: We launch all of the unique information from your Star Certificate, including the star’s name, what the star is named in honor of, the star’s registration date, the message you write for your gift recipient, the star’s astronomical coordinates and your order number.  We save all of this information in our database of stars — our star register, or “archive of star names”: Your star will be assigned the name you give it, and will never be assigned any other name in our star register.

Star Certificate
A Name A Star Live star certificate

Second, for each mission we save our star database onto a data storage device.  We then ship this device to the facility where the rocket is assembled.  Technicians integrate the device into the rocket as a “secondary payload” — we ‘piggyback’ on rockets that carry scientific or communications “primary payloads” into space.  The technicians must integrate the device into the rocket weeks, or even months before liftoff.  So there necessarily is a delay between the time you name your star and the time your star name and other related information are launched.

Chip
Name A Star Live flies its customers’ star names into space using a data storage device, much like NASA did using this chip when it included people’s names on the Mars Curiosity rover.

Please note that our spacecraft and missions are carefully designed so as not to create space debris, and our data storage device is never released into space. For example, for our missions that fly in Earth orbit, our data storage device remains permanently attached to a rocket stage or a satellite that orbits Earth until the spacecraft harmlessly re-enters and is completely consumed by Earth’s atmosphere.

Scheduling a rocket launch is not like booking a flight on an airplane.  While airline flights may be delayed a few minutes or hours due to weather or other reasons, normally your airplane flight will take off from your airport at least on the same day your flight is scheduled for departure.  In contrast, rocket launches often are delayed for days, weeks, months or even years due to a variety of technical or other reasons inherent in spaceflight.  You can find information about our upcoming missions by visiting our online launch schedule.

Third, depending on the mission, your star name will:

  • Fly on a brief trip to space and return to Earth,
  • Orbit the Earth (as an “orbital archive”),
  • Fly to the Moon, or
  • Fly into deep space.

In most cases you can attend each launch in person!  Our parent company, Space Services, Inc., has had payloads launched from locations around the world, including: Kennedy Space Center, Florida; Cape Canaveral, Florida; Spaceport America, New Mexico; Vandenberg Air Force Base, California; New Zealand; the Canary Islands; and the Marshall Islands.  But if you can’t join us for the launch, you can usually view the launch live via webcast.

No matter the mission, after each liftoff you can download a letter-size, Digital Launch Certificate confirming that your star name flew in space.  This is provided to you via the Internet: You can even order a Printed or Framed Launch Certificate.  This certificate displays your star’s name and astronomical coordinates, as well as information about the launch.

Launch Certificate
A Name A Star Live launch certificate

Launching your star’s name and other details into space is part of what sets Name A Star Live apart from other star-naming companies: Through our launches, we make the symbolic gesture of naming a star a real and exciting experience!

Mothers in the Sky

Andromeda and Cassiopeia
Cassiopeia and Andromeda — Two constellations (areas of the night sky) named after mothers from classical mythology. You can name a star in either constellation!

Naming stars for our mothers is popular today.  In fact, many objects in the night sky have been named after mothers for thousands of years.  And now mothers fly among the stars as astronauts!

The Name A Star Live constellations Andromeda and Cassiopeia are named after two beautiful mothers from classical mythology.  Cassiopeia, the Queen of the Ethiopians and the mother of Andromeda, was a prideful woman who boasted that she was more beautiful than the female attendants to Poseidon, the god of the sea.  For this transgression Poseidon punished Cassiopeia by sending a sea monster to attack Cassiopeia’s country and to kill Andromeda.  But Andromeda was saved and would later have seven children of her own.  Now both mothers travel together in the heavens above as the constellations we know them by today.

Continue reading “Mothers in the Sky”

Top Ten Mother’s Day Messages

 

Name A Star Live's "Star Bear"
Name A Star Live’s “Star Bear”

As you’re thinking about what to get your mother for Mother’s Day, you might be interested in some of the Mother’s Day messages Name A Star Live customers have included on their Star Certificates. Below are some of the best messages we’ve received. Of course, we’ve changed the names in the messages to protect the privacy of our customers.  We hope these examples will give you some ideas about what to write for your mom.

Have a happy Mother’s Day!

  1. Thank you for being the star of my life!
  2. To my mommy, I love you to the moon and back.
  3. Your wisdom and knowledge have shown us the way, and we are thankful for you as we live day by day.  We don’t tell you enough how important you are, in our universe you’re a bright shining star.
  4. Happy Mother’s Day, Alice! I love you and I can’t wait to meet our son!
  5. The Mother’s Day star will always be in the sky for you – Happy Mother’s Day. Thanks for loving us, no matter what. The Mother’s Day star never fades
  6. As the stars in the sky are countless, so too are the ways you’ve helped me, encouraged me, and showed me your love.    Happy Mother’s Day! I love you!
  7. For my amazing mother who loves unconditionally, and gives wholeheartedly. I love her with all of my heart, and all of my soul.
  8. A star is like a mother’s love, bright, beautiful, warm and everlasting; your star will shine forever in the far above, for you deserve the light it will always be casting.
  9. To the best mum in the world, you really are a star.  We will always love you!
  10. Happy Mothers Day!!! I am so proud to be your son, you are such an amazing woman and I am truly thankful for everything you are and do.  You are my hero, best friend and an amazing mother.

Name a star for your mother this Mother’s Day!

Top Ten Valentine’s Day Messages

A heart in spaceAs you’re thinking about what to get your significant other for Valentine’s Day, you might be interested in some of the Valentine’s Day messages Name A Star Live customers have included on their Star Certificates. Below are some of the best messages we’ve received so far. Of course, we’ve changed the names in the messages to protect the privacy of our customers.  We hope these examples will give you some ideas about what to write for your loved one.  Have a happy Valentine’s Day! Continue reading “Top Ten Valentine’s Day Messages”

Love is in the stars!

 

Heart of the Milky Way
Credit: ESO/J. Girard (djulik.com)
There is a lot to love about astronomy, and photographer Julien Girard offers a “heartfelt” example in this image. A bright pink symbol of love appears to float ethereally against the backdrop of the night sky over the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO’s) Paranal Observatory in northern Chile. Girard drew the heart in the air by shining a tiny flashlight keychain at the camera during a 25-second exposure with a tripod.

The central region of the Milky Way appears in the middle of the heart, as the plane of our galaxy stretches across the image. The stars of the constellation of Corona Australis (The Southern Crown) form a glittering arc of jewels at the top of the heart’s left lobe. The diffuse glow to the left of the heart’s lowest point is zodiacal light, caused by the scattering of light from the Sun by dust particles in the Solar System.

On the far right horizon, the 8.2-metre telescopes of the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) facility stand out in silhouette atop Cerro Paranal. The lights of a car driving down from the observatory platform can be seen just to the left of the telescopes.

Julien Girard is an ESO astronomer based in Chile, who works at the Ver Large Telescope (VLT). He is the instrument scientist for the NACO adaptive optics instrument on the VLT’s Unit Telescope 4. He submitted this photograph to the Your ESO Pictures Flickr group, from where it was picked out as an ESO Picture of the Week.

Antenna Galaxies

Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration. Acknowledgement: B. Whitmore ( Space Telescope Science Institute) and James Long (ESA/Hubble).

Colliding galaxies make love, not war

This Hubble Space Telescope image of the Antennae galaxies is the sharpest yet of this merging pair of galaxies. As the two galaxies smash together, billions of stars are born, mostly in groups and clusters of stars. The brightest and most compact of these are called super star clusters.

Heart on Mars
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This picture of a heart-shaped pit on Mars was taken on February 26, 2008 by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It is approximately 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) long and is centered near Mars’ equator. The pit is one of many adjacent to Hydaspis Chaos, a jumbled topographic depression thought to have formed by collapse of the surface due to—perhaps—catastrophic release of groundwater.

A Valentine's Day asteroid
Credit: NEAR Project (JHU/APL)

Just in time for its Valentine’s Day 2000 date with 433 Eros, the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft snapped this photo during its approach to the 21-mile (34 kilometer)-long space rock. Taken Feb. 11, 2000 from 1,609 miles (2,590 kilometers) away, the picture reveals a heart-shaped depression about 3 miles (5 kilometers) long. Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory – which manages the NASA mission – processed the image on Feb. 12, 2000.