The Brazilian Securities Commission (CVM) approved Latin America’s first exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on the first cryptocurrency.
QR Asset Management’s ETF under ticker symbol QBTC11 will be listed on the B3 São Paulo Stock Exchange.
Evolve Funds Group’s bitcoin-ETF will follow the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate index’s dynamics from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME Group).
The firm is part of the QR Capital Group. According to its website, QR Asset Management has R$423 million (~$77 million) in cryptocurrency assets under management and serves more than 10,000 clients in Latin America.
QR Capital said the fund is the fourth such regulated bitcoin-based investment product globally – three of them have been launched in Canada since earlier this year. B3 will be the second stock exchange to offer access to such an instrument.
The company believes that CVM’s decision could hasten approval to launch a bitcoin-ETF in the U.S. The Brazilian agency, like the SEC, is a member of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), which coordinates industry regulation.
The alliance also includes the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), which has registered exchange-traded funds based on the first cryptocurrency by Purpose Investments, Evolve Funds Group, and a joint product from CI Global Asset Management (CI GAM) and Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital.