UPDATED 01:42 EDT / JULY 13 2016

NEWS

Blockchain startup SolidX files for IPO of its Bitcoin Trust ETF

Blockchain technology startup SolidX Partners, Inc. have filed the paperwork for an initial public offering (IPO) for their SolidX Bitcoin Trust, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that would offer exposure to bitcoin.

According to their S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the trust will seek to provide shareholders with exposure to the daily change in the U.S. dollar price of bitcoin; the value of bitcoin in the trust will be measured by the TradeBlock XBX Index.

Interestingly SolidX said that trust will not be actively managed.

According to Coindesk, shares in the trust will be issued in blocks of 10,000 to authorized participants, which are described as registered broker-dealers who would create and redeem the blocks in baskets, for the delivery of cash (or bitcoins).

Bitcoins in the trust would either be sourced on bitcoin exchanges or in over-the-counter transactions.

SolidX will be the second Bitcoin ETF to go public following the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust ETF going public last year.

“The sponsor believes that shareholders will be able to more effectively implement strategic and tactical asset allocation strategies that use bitcoin by investing in the shares than by purchasing, holding and trading bitcoin directly,” the company said in a statement.

Founded in 2014, SolidX provides blockchain-based software solutions relating to the indelible recording of digital records, transfer of assets, and identity.

It’s main Vida platform is claimed to be the first full-stack identity platform that uses the blockchain as a distributed key server, enabling the secure process of key revocation and re-issuance.

Vida also enables file fingerprinting and time-stamping, authentication, credential storage and verification, document signing and email verification; using Vida a service provider and their customers do not need to remember and store passwords but instead use the Vida platform to authenticate requests with verifiable digital signatures.

The trust is its first entry into a specific bitcoin investment platform.

SolidX has raised $3 million in seed funding to date from investors including Red Swan Ventures, Red Sea Venture, Liberty City Ventures, and James Pollatta.

The ETF will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the code XBTC; it’s not clear at the time of writing when it will actually float.

Image credit: Robert Bagnall/YouTube/CC by 2.0

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