First Bitcoin ETF approved in Canada

A Bitcoin exchange traded fund for investment firm Accelerate Financial has been approved in Canada.

This makes it the first officially approved Bitcoin ETF in North America after the Ontario Securities Commission gav the green light for the institutional product.

The decision document was approved on Thursday, Feb. 11, and covers the following territories; British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut.

Accelerate Financial Technologies had filed and obtained a receipt for a preliminary prospectus with Canadian securities regulators for the Accelerate Bitcoin ETF (ABTC) on Feb. 2.

It stated that the fund will offer units denominated in both United States and Canadian dollars with a 0.7% management fee, adding that it had applied to list ABTC units on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

At the time, founder and CEO of Accelerate, Julian Klymochko, said;

“Bitcoin has been one of the best performing asset classes on a 1-year, 3-year, 5-year and 10-year basis, both absolute and risk-adjusted. Given Bitcoin’s historical track record and future potential, along with its portfolio diversification properties, we are looking forward to offering investors exposure to the asset class in an easy-to-use, low-cost ETF.”

The firm offers a suite of other ETFs, including the recently launched OneChoice Alternative Portfolio ETF which is the country’s first fund to provide single-ticket exposure to multiple alternative asset classes and investment strategies including Bitcoin, gold, arbitrage, and private credit.

In mid-January, Canadian investment fund manager Arxnovum also filed a prospectus for a Bitcoin ETF with the Ontario Securities Commission.