The lawyer who drafted Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss's plan foran exchange-traded fund (ETF) investing in the virtual currencybitcoin said she is “in dialogue” with regulators over revisingthe plan.

An amended version of the proposal for the Winklevoss BitcoinTrust, first filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) on July 1, will probably be submitted within two weeks,Kathleen H. Moriarty, a partner at Chicago-based law firm KattenMuchin Rosenman LLP, said in a Jan. 28 interview in Hollywood,Florida.

The Winklevoss twins, who claimed Mark Zuckerberg stole theiridea for a social-networking website to start Facebook Inc., areseeking to open the first ETF tracking a virtual asset. More than1,500 ETFs in the U.S. manage about $1.7 trillion, investingchiefly in stocks, bonds, and commodities.

Approval for a new type of ETF can involve several rounds ofcomments from regulators and multiple resubmissions of theapplication, said Moriarty. The approval process for the bitcoinETF is “progressing nicely and might occur at the end of 2014,” shesaid.

The Winklevosses owned about $10 million in bitcoins, or 1percent of the outstanding amount, when they filed their initialapplication.

Bitcoin is a software protocol for issuing and moving moneyacross the Internet. It has gained traction with merchants sellingeverything from Sacramento Kings basketball tickets to kitchenmixers on Overstock.com to illegal narcotics. Created five yearsago by a person or group using the name Satoshi Nakamoto, the valueof bitcoins has varied. The CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index valued thecurrency yesterday at $837.51.

Regulators and law-enforcement officials have expressed concernthat virtual currencies could facilitate money laundering and salesof illegal goods. On Jan. 27, federal prosecutors indicted aprominent figure among bitcoin entrepreneurs, Charlie Shrem, foralleged money laundering linked to Silk Road, a bitcoin-drivenwebsite allegedly used for buying drugs and other illicitgoods.

Shrem has denied the charges through his lawyer. After closingthe site in October, authorities said their probe is “ongoing.”

ETFs, unlike mutual funds, issue shares that trade on anexchange like a stock. They typically track an index.

Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten,or redistributed.