NYSE Arca looks set to be the latest major equities market to deal with bitcoin with the exchange filing two applications with the Securities and Exchange for approval to host bitcoin-related exchange-traded funds.

The proposed bitcoin ETFs, ProShares Bitcoin ETF and ProShares Short Bitcoin ETF would allow traders to bet on the performance of bitcoin futures. According to CNBC, ProShares filed for approval for the ETFs with the SEC in September.

An ETF is a marketable security that tracks an index, a commodity, bonds or a basket of assets like an index fund. In this case, the ProShares ETFs would track the price of bitcoin futures on both the Cboe Global Markets exchange and CME Group Inc.’s Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Notably, both those bitcoin futures markets are new, with Cboe the first to launch Dec. 12 followed by CME Sunday.

Whether the applications for the ETFs will be approved is an entirely other matter. The applications by NYSE Acra and ProShares are not the first time bitcoin-related securities have attempted to gain approval from the SEC, but the success rate of applications so far sits at 0 percent.

Three applications for bitcoin-linked securities have been rejected by the SEC so far: the SolidX Bitcoin ETF, the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust ETF and the Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust. The commission played from the same songbook each time in terms of the reasons given for their rejection.

Those reasons include the products not being consistent with the requirement that “the rules of a national securities exchange be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices and to protect investors and the public interest.” Another reason: The applications failed to satisfy requirements that the product have surveillance-sharing agreements with “significant markets for trading the underlying commodity or derivatives on that commodity” and that the markets for trading the commodity in question must be regulated.

With the proposed ProShares ETFs, at least one of those concerns is immediately addressed in that the ETFs will themselves will be linked to futures contracts on regulated, significant markets as opposed to directly trading in bitcoin itself. That said, with the futures tied to the price of bitcoin, the SEC must consider if the futures contracts meet the test of preventing fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices to protect investors and the public interest.

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