According to a proposal filed by the Cboe BZX exchange with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), traders in the United States will gain access to two cryptocurrency ETFs — one tied to Bitcoin and another to Ether — each designed to deliver three times the daily return of its respective underlying asset. The agency published the notice on August 14; the comment period expires 21 days after the document appears in the Federal Register.
Volatility Shares LLC is sponsoring the VS Trust behind this lineup: the 3x Gold ETF, 3x Silver ETF, 3x Bitcoin ETF, 3x Ether ETF, 3x Crude Oil ETF, and 3x Natural Gas ETF. Each fund aims to achieve results that are three times the daily return of its benchmark index, before fees and expenses, and each will operate as a commodity pool under the oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), rather than as an investment company.
The One Rule These Funds Don't Comply With
A single exchange rule provision blocks the entire lineup: BZX Rule 14.11(e)(4)(F) prohibits a trust from providing returns corresponding to a specific multiple of a benchmark index. Therefore, Cboe BZX has filed for these products under Section 19(b) of the Securities Exchange Act — an individual approval procedure that was required for each commodity trust share before the SEC approved general listing standards in September 2025.
On July 29, the SEC accelerated approval of an amendment to these standards, which now permits actively managed commodity trust shares, introduces a definition of a "digital commodity," and allows for the inclusion of assets that do not meet the general criteria, up to 15% of the trust's net asset value. All other provisions of the amended rule continue to apply to the six funds.
What's Actually in the Cryptocurrency Funds' Portfolios
Both cryptocurrency products will achieve their objectives using futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), rather than holding the coins themselves. A futures contract is a standardized agreement to buy or sell an asset at a fixed price at a future date. Each fund will invest in first- and second-month contracts, as well as cash and cash equivalents held as collateral or margin.
Each cryptocurrency fund will roll over approximately 20% of its expiring positions daily over a five-day period leading up to the expiration of the nearest contract. Bitcoin and Ether are the underlying assets of the CME futures with a trading history of at least six months — one of the compliance criteria specified by the exchange.
What Must Happen Before the First Trade
First, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) must approve Cboe's exchange rule change under Section 19(b). Separately, the trust fund will file a registration statement on Form S-1, and the shares can only be listed on the exchange after the Form S-1 becomes effective. The review of the exchange rule and the registration statement are separate processes.
At the time of launch, there must be at least 100,000 shares of each fund, with authorized participants creating or redeeming them in cash blocks of 10,000 shares. During regular trading hours, an indicative intraday value is published every 15 seconds. The exchange is required to halt trading if the daily net asset value is not disseminated simultaneously to all market participants and may halt trading in the event of an interruption in intraday data updates.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) sets stricter sales practice and margin requirements for customers regarding leveraged and inverse securities, which must be adhered to by member firms holding customer accounts.
Current State of Demand for Cryptocurrency Funds
Approximately 67 exchange-traded products aiming for triple or negative triple returns relative to a benchmark index are already available for trading on national securities exchanges; of these, 51 funds are regulated as investment companies, and 16 are exchange-traded notes. A separate SEC request for comment on new ETFs, dated June 30, focuses on investment company ETFs and highlights crypto assets and increased leverage among the new strategies under consideration.
Fund flow data shows uneven interest in these two assets: on August 13, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net outflow of $131.13 million, while Ether funds attracted $6.72 million. Given this regulatory environment and the complex nature of the products, the agency may extend its own decision timeline for the Cboe application to the maximum 240 days.
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