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Canada based Evolve Funds Group Inc. has announced that it has received regulatory approval for its Bitcoin (BTC) ETF (exchange-traded fund), paving way for another option for institutional investors to get exposure to cryptocurrencies.
Notably, only around three weeks back, the fund filed an initial prospectus for a Bitcoin ETF, with Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) granting the clearance yesterday.
The Bitcoin ETF will be represented by two tickers- EBIT and EBIT.U. While EBIT be denominated in Canadian dollar, EBIT.U will be denominated in the US dollars. EBIT is stated to offer “unhedged exposure to the daily price movement” of the numero uno cryptocurrency in loonie.
Similarly, EBIT.U will offer exposure to the daily price fluctuations in the US dollars. Furthermore, the fund will utilize Bitcoin Reference Rate provided by CF Benchmark. The price feed is based on aggregation of price data from multiple BTC/USD markets translated into a single day benchmark index.
A fresh prospectus presented to the OSC as per Frida (Framework for Risk Identification and Assessment) guidelines throws a light on the investment objective of the fund:
The Evolve Fund’s investment objective is to provide holders of Units with exposure to the daily price movements of the U.S. dollar price of bitcoin while experiencing minimal tracking error by utilizing the benefits of the creation and redemption processes.
To attain the objective, the Evolve fund intends to purchase Bitcoin through Gemini NuSTAR LLT and other reputed platforms, and hold for a long period of time. The prospectus was submitted through a passport system that ensures assessment of the fund in all the 10 provinces and three territories of Canada.
Sui Chung, CEO of CF Benchmarks, opined that the Evolve ETF has created a
true first — giving investors an easy-to-understand product that is available through their existing brokers and advisors that gives ownership of Bitcoin.
Chung continued:
By using the regulated Bitcoin Reference Rate from CF Benchmarks, the ETF tracks the value of the Bitcoin and because its structure allows daily creation and redemption of ETF shares investors aren’t forced to pay soaring premiums in the secondary market.
The Evolve Funds Group Inc. is the second Bitcoin ETF to receive approval from Canadian securities regulators. Last week, the Purpose Bitcoin ETF received clearance from regulators, making it the foremost physically settled North American ETF. Notably, last year, an ETF-kind of asset from 3iQ was endorsed and is currently traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Nevertheless, contrary to the Evolve ETF, the EiQ fund does not issue fresh shares on a continuous basis.
