VIX Creator Wades Into Bitcoin ETF Battle to Back Grayscale Bid

The man who created Wall Street’s favorite fear gauge is throwing his support behind Grayscale Investments LLC’s bid to turn the world’s biggest Bitcoin fund into an exchange-traded product.

Robert Whaley, who created the Cboe Volatility Index in 1993, said in a May 25 letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission that officials should approve the firm’s application to convert the $20 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (ticker GBTC) into an ETF. He joins thousands of other letter-writers after Grayscale launched a campaign to solicit comments to the SEC.

Whaley’s argument centers on the fact that the SEC allowed ...