Canada to get its first cryptocurrency ETF

Evolve Funds Group Inc. wants to offer Canada’s first cryptocurrency ETF. The company says in a release that’s it has filed a preliminary prospectus with Canadian securities regulators for a fund called Evolve Bitcoin ETF (BITS).

BITS will seek to replicate the performance of exposure to Bitcoin obtained through investments in CFE Bitcoin (USD) Futures. The fund will invest directly or indirectly in exchange-traded futures contracts as well as other financial instruments and derivatives that provide similar return characteristics.

“Accessing Bitcoin is not easy for many […] Investors are currently unable to trade them in a regular brokerage account,” says Raj Lala, president and CEO of Evolve ETFs, in the release. “As more and more of the world goes digital, usage of cryptocurrencies could increase significantly in the coming years,” he adds.

BITS will offer investors with both hedged and unhedged units, and Evolve Funds will act as portfolio manager.

This announcement by Evolve Funds follows the company’s launch of two funds on September 20; one was a gender diversity ETF for responsible investors and the other was a cyber security ETF. (In July, the company filed a preliminary prospectus for five new funds, including those two.)

Also read: BCSC first to register Bitcoin investment fund manager in Canada Estate planning for a client’s digital assets Why fintech has an incentive to be regulated: BoC paper

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.