After two ETFs went live last week, there could be a third Canadian bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). On Friday, CI Global Asset Management, a subsidiary of a firm in charge of more than $230 billion worth of assets, filed a preliminary prospectus for the financial instrument.
Previous Canadian Bitcoin ETFs
The new CI Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTCX) would be under the management of CI. It will also receive advice from merchant bank Galaxy Digital. Both mentioned firms have partnered previously on the CI Galaxy Bitcoin Fund, a closed-end investment product.
North America’s first publicly-traded Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) raised $ 421.8 million in assets under management (AUM) in two days.
The Bitcoin Purpose Investment ETF officially began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) on Thursday under BTCC. The fund received a lot of interest and sold more than $ 100 million in shares on the first day, and raised $ 421.8 million by the end of Friday.
Eric Balchunas, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence ETFs, wrote on Twitter that the Bitcoin Purpose Investment ETF could reach a net worth of $ 1 billion by the end of this week.
The second bitcoin ETF was approved by the Ontario Securities and Exchange Commission (OSC) after the Investment Destination bitcoin ETF launched on TSX on Thursday.
Evolve said it would allow investors to get exposure to daily price movements in the Bitcoin price in US dollars, which will take advantage of the ETF structure and will allow investors to own bitcoin directly on the bitcoin blockchain in a cold wallet.
Raj Lala, CEO of Evolve said that the ability to offer ETFs holding physical bitcoins is changing the game in Canada.
The Evolve and Purpose Investment’s bitcoin ETFs have a 1% management fee.
Opening Up to Bitcoin
Evolve’s CEO mentioned that Bitcoin has proven to be an asset that is not associated with any other significant asset class – and now acts as an asset class itself.
There are several reasons for the recent adoption of Bitcoin. One of these is confidence in its value by both retail and, more recently, institutional investors.
Recently, electric car maker Tesla Inc. revealed they bought 1.5 billion worth of bitcoin. BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest wealth manager, is reported to have done the same. The city of Miami is considering allowing residents to pay taxes using Bitcoin.
Taken together, this is further evidence that cryptocurrencies, once the domain of outsiders are approaching a mainstream where large companies, governments, and even former prime ministers are confident enough to plan their future or use it or discuss it.
Canadian firm 3iQ also filed a preliminary prospectus for a bitcoin ETF last week.