Canadian citizens in the city of Richmond Hill will soon be able to make municipal tax payments in bitcoin.
Canadian securities regulators have approved the world’s first “direct-custody” bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) to be launched by Purpose Investment, according to a press release shared with Bitcoin Magazine.
While this is the world’s first investment vehicle calling itself a bitcoin ETF, there are already some European investment products that are physically-backed by bitcoin and work virtually the same. But this is the first such vehicle to gain regulatory approval in North America.
Purpose Investments worked closely with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) in order to receive final regulatory approval for what will be called the Purpose Bitcoin ETF (ticker: BTCC).
“The OSC was a crucial working partner in the launch of Purpose Bitcoin ETF and we are grateful for their willingness to work with us through this process,” Purpose CEO Som Seif said, per the release. “Their cooperation and guidance made it possible for us to move forward on getting this novel ETF into the hands of investors.”
Other details about the launch from the release include:
- Purpose Investments is an asset management company with more than $10 billion in assets under management.
- Bitcoin holdings for the BTCC ETF will be kept in “cold storage” with the Gemini Trust Company.
- The CIBC Mellon Global Securities Services Company will act as the fund administrator.
- The ETF’s daily net asset value (NAV) will be priced based on the daily spot price of the TradeBlock XBX Index.
- The Toronto Stock Exchange is expected to list the fund in Canadian dollars.