The first Bitcoin ETF in North America, TSX’s Purpose Bitcoin ETF, had a gangbuster debut today, trading nearly $100 million in volume. A Bloomberg Law report noted that the ETF saw over $80 million in volume in the first hour of trading, though it’s since slowed significantly with roughly another $15 million in volume between BCTCC.B, the Canadian dollar-denominated units, and BTCC.U, the American dollar-denominated ticker. As of publication, BTCC.B has traded 7,905,000 units priced at $10.28, and BTCC.U 1,312,000 units at $10.27, per the TSX. In a press release today, ETF provider Purpose Investments founder and CEO Som Seif …

North America’s second Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund received regulatory approval on Tuesday, offering another potential entry point for institutional investors to access digital assets. Less than three weeks after filing a preliminary prospectus for a Bitcoin ETF, Evolve Funds Group Inc announced Tuesday that its fund has been approved by the Ontario Securities Commission, or OSC. The ETF has two ticker symbols: EBIT for Canadian-denominated units and EBIT.U for U.S.-denominated units. EBIT is said to provide "unhedged exposure to the daily price movement" of Bitcoin in Canadian dollars, whereas EBIT.U provides exposure to the daily price movements in U.S. dollars. …

Every Friday, Law Decoded delivers analysis on the week’s critical stories in the realms of policy, regulation and law. Editor's note A wise man once said, "there's security and there're securities," and if he didn't, he should've. In modern English, it seems a quaint coincidence that the word "security" refers to both safety and a broad class of investments. But as pending arguments about, say, meme-propelled trading in securities are set to take place in forums reserved for national security, it's a good reminder that money precedes weapons as vehicles for national power. In some sense, it's obvious that financial …

Major Canadian universities have submitted new research to the Bank of Canada centered around the development of a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, underscoring the innovation underway in this space. The research began last year after the BoC engaged four institutions around potential designs for a national cryptocurrency. A total of three proposals were published simultaneously on Thursday. Notably, each proposal was based on the application of blockchain technology. The submission from the University of Calgary leverages “a mix of distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) and electronic cash (“e-cash”) schemes with advanced cryptographic primitives.” The submission focuses extensively on promoting …

The Bank of Canada is pushing ahead with digitizing its currency. In a speech today, BoC deputy governor Timothy Lane noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had accelerated the need to digitize cash. Lane said: "The pandemic may bring us to a decision point sooner than we had anticipated." Lane was, however, careful to specify that "a digital currency is by no means a foregone conclusion." In October, Lane that said central banks should stand by with digital tokens in the event that Libra, now Diem fell to regulators. Today, he noted that central banks may be more trustworthy than private …

Coinsquare, the Toronto-based digital currency platform, has announced a new mobile trading application designed to simplify the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies in Canada. Quick Trade was officially unveiled Monday, allowing commission-free transactions of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BTC). A total of 15 trading pairs are available at launch, with “many more digital assets to be onboarded over the coming months,” the company said. The app is available on Android and Apple devices alongside Coinsquare’s existing mobile application, which is an extension of its web-based trading platform. In addition to commission-free trades, the new app …

Another Canadian company has filed an application for a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund, or ETF, amid a renewed interest in crypto ETFs from global financial firms. Accelerate Financial Technologies has filed and obtained a receipt for a preliminary prospectus with Canadian securities regulators for the Accelerate Bitcoin ETF (ABTC). Announcing the news on Feb. 3, Accelerate Financial said that ABTC will offer units denominated in both United States and Canadian dollars. The company has applied to list ABTC units on the Toronto Stock Exchange, with listing being subject to the exchange's requirements. “The TSX has not conditionally approved ABTC's listing …

Canada-based investment manager Ninepoint Partners has launched trading for shares of the firm’s Bitcoin trust on the Toronto Stock Exchange. According to an announcement today, Ninepoint has completed an initial public offering for its Bitcoin trust for $230 million Canadian dollars, or roughly $180 million U.S. dollars. The investment firm said that it would be issuing three different classes of 17,990,491 units at a price of $10, more than 7 million of which are available for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbols BITC.U and BITC.UN for U.S. and Canadian dollars, respectively. Ninepoint co-CEO and managing partner …

Stephen Harper, who served as prime minister of Canada for nine years, says there may be a place for Bitcoin and central bank digital currencies as part of a basket of reserve currencies to replace the dollar. In an interview with investment service Cambridge House’s Jay Martin at the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference today, Harper said the possibility of the U.S. dollar being replaced could only come from a large currency like the Euro or Chinese yuan. He expressed his doubts either of them would be a viable alternative currency given the long-term uncertainty over the value of the Euro …

Canadian regulated digital asset manager 3iQ has recorded another massive milestone of its public Bitcoin (BTC) fund. On Jan. 14, 3iQ’s Bitcoin Fund (QBTC) hit the $1 billion mark, the company announced on Twitter. The new milestone demonstrates QBTC’s parabolic growth after 3iQ launched the fund in April 2020. QBTC is now up 900% from its previous milestone of $100 million recorded in October 2020. As previously reported, 3iQ’s QBTC is Canada's first public Bitcoin fund listed on a major stock exchange, the Toronto Stock Exchange. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss' Gemini provides custody services for 3iQ’s QBTC. At publishing time, …

Canadian investment fund manager Arxnovum Investments has filed a prospectus for a new Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund, or ETF, in Canada. On Monday, the company filed a stack of preliminary documents for the Arxnovum Bitcoin ETF with Canada’s Ontario Securities Commission. According to a preliminary long-form prospectus, Arxnovum plans to list its new Bitcoin ETF on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The listing is subject to the approval of the TSX in accordance with its original listing requirements. “The TSX has not conditionally approved the listing application of the Bitcoin ETF and there is no assurance that the TSX will approve …

The world’s first Ether-based fund to be listed on a major stock exchange opened for trading on Thursday, but not without some hiccups. Listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, The Ether Fund (TSX:QETH.U) opened for trading at $10.80 per share after completing a successful IPO in which $76.5 million was raised. Now available in brokerage and registered retirement accounts....... The Ether Fund (TSX:QETH.U) is the world's first regulated and major exchange-listed ETH fund https://t.co/L2U7JCutf3 pic.twitter.com/8PfgJgQcpK — 3iQ Corp (@3iq_corp) December 10, 2020 To the concern of interested traders, the fund was not available for trading upon the opening bell, officially …