Evolve wins second Canadian Bitcoin ETF as Ontario regulator approves application

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. 

Notably, the fund will track price data using CF Benchmarks’ Bitcoin Reference Rate, which aggregates data from several BTC/USD markets into a one-a-day benchmark index.

An updated prospectus submitted to the OSC on Frida outlines the fund's investment objective:

"The Evolve Fund’s investment objective is to provide holders of Units with exposure to the daily price movements of the U.S. dollar price of bitcoin while experiencing minimal tracking error by utilizing the benefits of the creation and redemption processes."

To achieve this goal, the Evolve fund will invest in long-term holdings of BTC purchased through Gemini NuSTAR LLC and other platforms. 

The prospectus was filed under a passport system, which allows the fund to be accessed in all of Canada's 10 provinces and three territories. 

Sui Chung, CEO of CF Benchmarks, told Cointelegraph that the Evolve ETF has “developed a true first — giving investors an easy-to-understand product that is available through their existing brokers and advisors that gives ownership of Bitcoin.”

Chung continued:

“By using the regulated Bitcoin Reference Rate from CF Benchmarks, the ETF tracks the value of the Bitcoin and because its structure allows daily creation and redemption of ETF shares investors aren't forced to pay soaring premiums in the secondary market."

The Evolve fund is the second Bitcoin ETF to be approved by Canadian securities regulators this month. The Purpose Bitcoin ETF received approval last week, becoming the first physically settled North American ETF.

An ETF-style product from 3iQ was approved in Canada last year and is currently listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. However, unlike the Evolve ETF, the EiQ fund doesn’t continually issue new shares.