Some offers on this page are from advertisers who pay us, which may affect which products we write about, but not our recommendations. See our Advertiser Disclosure. Investing in bitcoin and ethereum used to be hard.
Investors needed to find an exchange, learn how to navigate it, and study how crypto wallets work. In 2024, the arrival of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, changed how people access digital assets. Rather than navigating crypto exchanges and managing wallet apps, you can now buy a fund that holds the coins directly through your regular brokerage account.
You just purchase shares like you would with any other stock. The fund handles secure custody. If you can buy a fund that tracks the price of bitcoin or ethereum, why would you go through the trouble of buying the coin yourself?
Many investors still do, and some own coins directly in addition to investing in spot crypto ETFs. Others go the ETF-only route. In this guide, we'll explore both options, Bitcoin or Ethereum spot ETFs vs. direct ownership, and compare the pros and cons of each.
An exchange-traded fund, or ETF, refers to single or bundled assets that you can buy and sell on a traditional stock exchange. ETFs let you invest in an asset without buying it directly. You buy shares of the fund, and the fund holds the underlying investments.
The word spot refers to the current market price of an asset. A spot ETF holds the actual asset, real bitcoin (BTC) or ether (ETH), rather than futures contracts. Futures contracts are derivatives — agreements to buy or sell an asset at a future date for a predetermined price.
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