Evolve Becomes Second Canadian Issuer to Win Approval for Bitcoin ETF

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has approved Canada’s second bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). 

Evolve’s bitcoin ETF was conditionally approved on Tuesday to trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the company announced in a press release. 

“It’s a promising sign if there are no issues with launching a bitcoin ETF in Canada," said James Seyffart, ETF research analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. "The U.S. regulatory framework tends to be a lot more in line with things that happen in Canada.”

The approval follows the OSC’s approval of Purpose Investment’s bitcoin ETF on Thursday. Both ETFs have a management fee of 1%, falling just shy of Europe’s cheapest bitcoin exchange-traded commodity from Wisdom Tree, which charges 0.95%, Seyffart said. 

ETFs are an easy way for investors who want to get exposure to bitcoin without having to hold the asset itself and without having to deal with the premiums at which bitcoin funds like Grayscale Bitcoin Trust normally trade. 

Evolve has tapped CF Benchmarks as the fund’s index provider, EY as its auditor, Cidel Trust Company as its custodian, Gemini Trust Company as its sub-custodian and CIBC Mellon Global Securities Services as its fund administrator. 

CORRECTION (Feb. 17, 15:26 UTC): A previous version of this article stated that Evolve ETF was the first issuer to apply for a bitcoin ETF in the U.S. In fact, it was the first issuer to apply for a bitcoin ETF in Canada.