Canada is becoming North America’s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) hub as CI Global Asset Management (CI GAM) became the latest company to file a preliminary prospectus for a Bitcoin ETF.
The fund named CI Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTCX) would be managed by CI GAM, and Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital will act as the ETF’s sub-advisor, which will execute Bitcoin trading. The two companies previously partnered to launch a close-ended Bitcoin fund that is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
CI GM’s parent CI Financial, which is listed both in Toronto and New York, is a major asset management company overseeing more than $230 billion in assets.
Commenting on the attempt to list the Bitcoin ETF and its partnership with Galaxy Digital, CI Financial CEO, Kurt MacAlpine said: “We are excited to build on our existing relationship with Galaxy which we believe has the deepest global expertise in the cryptocurrency market.”
Demand for Bitcoin Is Rising among All Investors
The filing came a week after the Canadian stock exchange-listed two Bitcoin ETFs, which turned out to be a massive hit. The first Bitcoin fund managed to build an AUM of over $421 million in merely two days of its listing.
Friday’s announcement further detailed that BTCX will price its Bitcoin holdings using the Bloomberg Galaxy Bitcoin Index.
While Canadian regulators and stock exchanges are embracing the Bitcoin ETFs, there is still not a peep in the neighboring United States. Many companies in the country have been pushing to get approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for years now, but all attempts failed.
Meanwhile, other Canadian companies are pushing to receive approval for Bitcoin ETFs. 3iQ, which already manages a close-ended Bitcoin fund in Canada, filed a Bitcoin ETF preliminary prospectus last week.
