North America’s First Bitcoin ETF Now Holds Over 11,000 BTC

North America’s first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) now holds more than 11,000 BTC. An ETF researcher explained that the surge in interest is evidence of underlying demand and the risks of investors investing in Bitcoin from other sources.

As of March 2, the first approved Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in North America, the Purpose Bitcoin ETF, held 11,141.2363 Bitcoins. According to Purpose Investments, which manages the fund, the Bitcoin ETF currently has 669 million Canadian dollars (530 million U.S. dollars) in assets under management.

The Purpose Bitcoin ETF received widespread attention when it was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) on February 18. The fund's trading volume on the first day exceeded $165 million. The ETF's trading symbols are BTCC.B (Canadian dollar-denominated ETF non-monetary hedged units) and BTCC.U (U.S. dollar-denominated ETF non-monetary hedged units).

However, trading has slowed significantly since its launch. Tuesday's volume was $17 million. Bloomberg quoted Ben Johnson, global director of ETF research at Morningstar, as saying, "The initial surge in interest demonstrates the underlying demand, the risk that investors have from other means of acquiring Bitcoin, and the fact that the price of Bitcoin hit a new high when the purpose ETF began trading. In the long run, I expect trading volume to be correlated with the price of Bitcoin."

Canada’s securities regulator has approved yet another Bitcoin ETF. The Evolve Bitcoin ETF began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange one day after the Purpose Bitcoin ETF. It trades under the tickers EBIT (provides exposure to Bitcoin’s daily price changes in Canadian dollars) and EBIT.U (provides exposure to Bitcoin’s daily price changes in U.S. dollars).

The Evolve Bitcoin ETF launched with a trading volume of about $15 million. Its trading volume shrank to about 3.2 million shares on Tuesday. On February 24, the ETF reduced its management fee from 1% to 0.75%, making it cheaper than the fees charged by Purpose's Bitcoin ETF. On March 2, Evolve applied to list and trade an ETH ETF designed to provide investors with exposure to ETH.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved any cryptocurrency ETFs. Gary Gensler, President Joe Biden’s choice to succeed the SEC, has not yet been confirmed as SEC chairman. This week, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) submitted an application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list and trade a Bitcoin ETF.

Source: News.bitcoin.com