Asset manager BlackRock is launching a new Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Cboe Canada, the Canadian securities exchange said on Jan. 13.
The ETF is designed to give Canadian investors access to BlackRock’s flagship US spot Bitcoin fund, iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). It will invest “all or substantially all of its assets” in IBIT, Cboe Canada said.
Dubbed iShares Bitcoin ETF, the Canadian fund will trade under the same ticker, IBIT, as BlackRock’s US product. Shares denominated in US dollars will be traded under the ticker IBIT.U, the exchange said.
“The iShares Fund provides Canadian investors with a […] way to gain exposure to bitcoin and helps remove the operational and custody complexities of holding bitcoin directly,” Helen Hayes, BlackRock’s head of iShares Canada, said in a statement.
It will join upward of a dozen other Bitcoin ETFs trading on Canadian exchanges, according to Nasdaq.
IBIT.U is listed in Canada but priced in USD. Source: Cboe Canada
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Surging demand
BlackRock’s US IBIT ETF has emerged as the world’s most popular BTC fund. Since launching in January 2024, the fund has clocked more than $37 billion in net inflows, according to data from Farside Investors.
Overall, US Bitcoin ETFs saw more than $35 billion in aggregate net inflows for the year, or roughly $144 million in net inflows each trading day, Farside said.
This figure factors in more than $20 billion in net outflows from Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which the asset manager launched in 2013, initially as a non-listed trust. GBTC charges significantly higher management fees than newer peers.
In November, US BTC ETFs broke $100 billion in net assets for the first time, according to data from Bloomberg Intelligence. Crypto analysts at Steno Research expect Bitcoin ETFs to attract another roughly $48 billion worth of net inflows in 2025.
Bitcoin has “become [a] more important component […] of investors’ portfolios structurally” as they increasingly seek to hedge against geopolitical risk and inflation, investment bank JPMorgan said in a December report, citing the “record capital inflow into crypto markets.”
Surging institutional inflows could cause positive demand shocks for Bitcoin, potentially sending BTC’s price soaring in 2025, asset manager Sygnum Bank said in December.
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