Canada’s main securities regulator approved the first bitcoin exchange-traded fund in North America, a move some market observers see as setting the stage for the U.S. to follow, Coindesk and Reuters reported on Saturday.
Bitcoin registered a new record peak of $48,975 on Friday, rallying more than 60% so far for 2021 and climbing approximately 1,130% since the middle of March last year.
In a statement, Toronto-headquartered asset management company Purpose Investments Inc. said the Ontario Securities Commission had given the green light for Purpose Bitcoin ETF. The OSC confirmed the launch in a separate statement to Reuters.
Exposure to BTC
There are currently at least four active filings awaiting approval by Canada’s regulator for a Bitcoin ETF, Bloomberg said.
Purpose Bitcoin ETF is designed to provide investors with exposure to the biggest digital currency in the world by investing directly in physically settled Bitcoin (BTC), the company said in a statement.
While the launch is set to be the first investment medium for the crypto that is officially designated an ETF, Europe already has “physically supported” publicly traded BTC products in its inventory that essentially functions just like an ETF.
Important product
Investors can greatly benefit from an ETF, like buying at net asset value rather than at a premium, Northland Wealth Management chief executive officer Arthur Salzer said.
Purpose Investment’s founder and chief executive officer Som Seif thinks Canadian regulators realized it was an important product for the marketplace. In remarks quoted by Yahoo Finance Canada, Seif said, “investors are already saying we are going to own this asset, one way or the other.”
Meanwhile, Bank of Canada’s deputy governor Timothy Lane said the country’s central bank is developing its own cryptocurrency.
Researchers and software programmers at the University of Calgary are helping the bank. One of the researchers said the risks of acquiring Purpose ETF against buying Bitcoin directly are different.
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