Officials at the U.S. securities regulator are set to make a decision on the ProShares Bitcoin ETF and the ProShares Short Bitcoin ETF by Thursday, Aug. 23rd, 2018. Unlike this month's earlier decision to push an approval for the Cboe's VanEck/SolidX bitcoin ETF, this rule change proposal – filed by ProShares in conjunction with NYSE Arca – cannot be delayed any further under the regulator's rules. The ProShares ETF proposals – initially submitted to the SEC last December – are underpinned by bitcoin futures contracts, rather than any physical holdings of bitcoin itself. In other words, the ETF's value will be determined by the bitcoin futures contracts trading on CME or the Cboe Futures Exchange, according to the original filing. To date, the regulator has only denied or delayed bitcoin ETF proposals.