The Ontario Securities Commission has given approval to a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund. As a result of the approval, the fund is the first of its kind to be listed on any North American stock exchange.
The fund which is also known as Purpose Bitcoin will be managed by Purpose Investments Inc, according to the official documents recently approved. It was filed in many jurisdictions in Canada under the Multilateral Instrument Passport System.
The territories are Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon.
The official document noted that: “A receipt for the prospectus is deemed to be issued by the regulator in each of those jurisdictions, if the conditions of the Instrument have been satisfied.”
The fund is invented to keep an eye on Bitcoin’s market price but will remove the manager’s fees and expenses. The fact sheet of the fund explained that there would be a 1 percent annual management fee alongside operating costs and trading expenses, which will be known later.
Purpose chose Cidel Trust Company, a subsidiary of Cidel Bank Canada, as its custodian and also chose Winklevoss brother’s Gemini as the sub-custodian.
Bitcoin ETFs are traded on stock exchanges, as such, can easily be bought and sold like any other company stock. These instruments subdue the technical barrier of investing in cryptocurrencies as anybody can invest in them via brokerages, without having to worry about wallets and other stuff.
The prospectus stated that: “Investors will incur customary brokerage commissions in buying or selling the ETF Units.
“The TSX ticker symbol for the ETF units, CAD ETF Non-Currency Hedged Units, and USD ETF Non-Currency Hedged Units is BTCC, BTCC.B, and BTCC.U, respectively.”
Though the Toronto Stock Exchange also listed other Bitcoin funds but these funds are close-ended, that is, the units can be bought at the initial public offerings (IPOs) and reopenings.
