Bitwise CIO says the first wirehouse to support a spot Bitcoin ETF is ‘probably a few weeks away’.

No major U.S. financial institution yet supports the new Bitcoin ETF set, but this could soon change.

“We are probably a few weeks away, maybe a week or so, from getting the first of the major warehouses to approve it,” Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said during a panel on Bitcoin ETFs at the Digital Asset Conference in London. “And in a few months they will all be.”

Hougan explained that the U.S. retail wealth market can be divided into two groups: independent financial advisors and major national platforms. He noted that his IRA purchased Bitcoin ETFs because they could be purchased immediately. Major platforms require products to be approved internally through a due diligence process before they can be released.

Hougan described it as a series of small corridors that must be navigated before most of America’s wealth can be invested in a newly released product. He said the major carriers supporting the ETF could increase availability by about four times.

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His comments echo those of Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, who recently told The Block that the two main catalysts for Bitcoin ETFs will be its availability in remittance houses and the development of options products based on them.

Balchunas said the ETF will land on the platform in the coming months. “It’s like putting a product on the shelf at Whole Foods or a large grocery store. Just that kind of exposure and availability will help,” he said.

Balchunas added that in addition to Wirehouse, other large investment platforms such as Raymond James and LPL could facilitate broader access to ETFs. He also noted that many smaller platforms will follow suit.

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