Canada’s pro-crypto attitude is no news, and as one might have expected, a new Bitcoin exchange-traded fund has just been approved by the country’s securities regulators. The CI Galaxy Bitcoin ETF thus becomes the third ETF to benefit from such approval and is set to launch on March 9th.
Last month witnessed the launch of the two first such funds, namely Evolve Bitcoin ETF (EBIT) and Purpose Bitcoin ETF (BTCC). The new fund will be launched under the symbol BTCX on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Steve Kurz, GDAM Partner and Head of Asset Management, stated that they “believe the emerging digital asset class presents compelling growth and diversification opportunities,” and that the new ETF “offers a simple and secure access point for traditional investors to gain exposure to bitcoin.”
Galaxy Digital Asset Management is a subsidiary of Galaxy Digital and will be a sub-advisor for the newly-approved ETF as well as the one to execute BTC trading for it. CI Global Asset Management applied for the BTC ETF in February.
BTC ETFs allow investors to invest in Bitcoin without actually holding the digital asset. Basically, an investor entrusts the management and custody of their digital assets to fund managers and pays a small fee for these services.
The first two ETFs launched in Canada enjoyed quite some success. According to Decrypt.co, in the week following its launch, the Purpose Bitcoin ETF attracted over $470 million. Furthermore, the Evolve Bitcoin ETF now has more than $54 million in assets under management.
The third approval of a BTC ETF in Canada comes after the US SEC has repeatedly rejected several BTC ETF applications for the reason that cryptocurrency markets can be subject to manipulation. With Canada’s pro-crypto attitude leading to new Bitcoin ETF approvals and the newly-inaugurated Biden administration, hopes are that the US SEC will follow suit.