Crypto asset manager CoinShares said it secured an exclusive option to buy the exchange-traded fund (ETF) unit of Valkyrie Investments, gaining a U.S. foothold amid speculation the Securities and Exchange Commission will soon approve a spot bitcoin ETF.

The Saint Helier, Jersey-based company, whose shares trade on Nasdaq Stockholm, said the option expires March 31. CoinShares didn't disclose how much it paid for the option, or details of pricing for the acquisition, should it decide to go ahead.

Spot crypto exchange-traded products are already available in Europe. That's not yet the case in the U.S., though speculation has swirled recently that one is coming – which could open up bitcoin investing to a broad range of people.

"This disparity in market evolution presents both challenges and significant opportunities," CoinShares CEO Jean-Marie Mognetti said in a statement. "The option to acquire Valkyrie is accelerating our expansion into the U.S. market and the deployment of our digital asset management expertise globally."

CoinShares Valkyrie Acquisitions ETFs

Sheldon Reback

Sheldon Reback is CoinDesk's European news editor. Before joining the company, he spent 26 years as an editor at Bloomberg News, where he worked on beats as diverse as stock markets and the retail industry as well as covering the dot-com bubble of 2000-2002. He subsequently managed the Bloomberg Terminal's main news page before becoming the European editor for a global project to produce short, chart-based stories across the newsroom. His previous work as a journalist took him to Hong Kong, where he reported and edited for several technology magazines, and he also has experience in market research and writing computer manuals. Sheldon has an MBA from the London Business School and an industrial chemistry degree from Brunel University. He owns a small amount of ether.