Six Bitcoin Mutual Funds to Start Trading in Israel on Dec. 31

This comes after the Israel Securities Authority, Israel's national securities regulator, greenlit the aforementioned products earlier this month.

Israeli media outlet Calcalist reported on Wednesday that six Bitcoin-related mutual funds are set to begin trading in Israel following key regulatory approval.

Earlier this month, the Israel Securities Authority, Israel's national securities regulator, approved the products. Among the funds that received regulatory approval for their products are IBI and More.

The new products will be launched on Dec. 31 and will be available for purchase at banks and investment houses, like traditional mutual funds, the report noted.

The upcoming launch of Bitcoin mutual funds in Israel comes almost a year after the groundbreaking debut of spot-based Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S. According to data from SoSoValue, these ETFs have now amassed close to $110 billion in total net assets. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF alone has assets valued at $56 billion.

As reported by U.Today, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently approved two more cryptocurrency ETF products that provide simultaneous exposure to both Bitcoin and Ethereum.

According to Calcalist, Eyal Goren, deputy CEO of IBI Funds, stated that the success of U.S.-based ETFs was the main factor that drove Bitcoin's substantial price increase.

Local industry executives are reportedly unhappy with the timing of the approval, as they believe that their clients could have benefited from the massive Bitcoin price surge had the regulator greenlit the mutual funds earlier.