Former executives at Citigroup intend to market securities backed by bitcoin that they claim don’t require SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) approval.Depositary receipts resembling the American depositary receipts (ADRs) that trade as foreign stocks on U.S. equity exchanges will be made available by Receipts Depositary Corp. (RDC).A news statement on Thursday stated that the “BTC DRs” will be made available to institutions and cleared by the Depository Trust Company (DTC).
For investments that are not subject to Securities Act of 1933 registration requirements, RDC will provide bitcoin depositary receipts to investors.The announcement states that the offering will begin in the upcoming weeks.According to Ankit Mehta, co-founder and CEO of RDC, “there are many benefits to using depositary receipts, such as their tried and true structure, providing direct ownership of the underlying asset and easy inclusion in institutional products.”The purpose of RDC is to fulfill the institutional need for bitcoin investments, which an exchange-traded fund (ETF) on the spot might not be able to meet.In the very near future, the SEC is anticipated to authorize the listing of a spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States.
Mehta told Bloomberg, which first broke the story, that while shares in bitcoin ETFs could be exchanged for cash, depositary receipts would give direct ownership of the cryptocurrency.The underlying bitcoin will be kept under the control of Anchorage Digital Bank National Association