One River files for carbon-neutral Bitcoin ETF with help from former SEC chairman

One River Asset Management has filed for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the United States Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). 

Former SEC chairman advises latest Bitcoin ETF application

Jay Clayton, the ex-chairman of the US SEC, is now helping asset manager One River with a Bitcoin ETF application. The former chairman said that since the crypto market was prone to market manipulation, the country should not have an ETF on any US stock exchange.

However, since Clayton left the agency last year, he went to take on a position as a crypto advisor to the hedge fund.

One River filed an application to the securities regulator for a carbon-neutral Bitcoin ETF. According to the application, the fund would incorporate the purchase of carbon credits to minimize the product’s carbon footprint. The filing reads:

The Trust intends to offset the carbon footprint associated with Bitcoin by purchasing and retiring carbon credits necessary to account for the estimated carbon emissions associated with the bitcoins held by the Trust.

The asset manager joins several SEC applications, including Galaxy Digital, SkyBridge Capital, New York Digital Investment Group and VanEck. 

ETFs provide a gateway to allow investors to buy an asset that represents an underlying asset. Currently, all the available crypto-based ETFs in North America have only been approved in Canada, which now has eight in the country. 

Clayton has blocked every application of a Bitcoin ETF in the US to date, citing market manipulation, lack of transparency in crypto markets and potential insufficiency of liquidity. 

This application comes at a time when concerns have recently arisen surrounding the impact of Bitcoin mining on the environment with Elon Musk’s latest decision to halt BTC as payment for Tesla vehicles. 

The asset manager’s plans for the One River Carbon Neutral Bitcoin Trust were made in April, as One River CEO Eric Peters highlighted:

There’s a lot of talk about the carbon footprint. We decided it’s time to stop talking and start doing something about it.

The filing further explained that the Trust has entered into an agreement with Moss Earth to purchase MCO2 tokens, representing “certified reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.”

The trust will use third parties to provide Bitcoin through “in-kind” transactions by selling and redeeming shares. If the application is successful, the ETF would be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.