Canadian Investment Fund Manager Receives ‘Favourable Ruling’ From Regulators to Offer Bitcoin Fund

Canadian investment fund manager 3iQ Corp. announced on Oct. 30 that it had received approval from its public hearing by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) for a closed-end Bitcoin fund that will be listed for trading on a major Canadian stock exchange. 

3iQ announced that it had received a “favourable ruling” from the OSC for “The Bitcoin Fund,” which is a non-redeemable investment fund expected to be listed by the end of the year.  

“Over the past three years, we have worked actively with the OSC's Investment Funds and Structured Products Branch to create an investment fund that we hope will allow retail investors the benefits of investing in Bitcoin through a regulated, listed fund,” said Fred Pye, President and CEO of 3iQ. “We have addressed the questions of pricing, custody, audit, and public interest issues in a regulated investment fund.” 

Gemini Trust Company LLC, a trust company based in New York, has been appointed as the fund’s custodian. “3iQ has carefully selected a team of professional partners with expertise in the digital asset industry to construct a safe and secure fund product for the Canadian market, and we are excited to be selected as their custodian,” said Cameron Winklevoss, President of Gemini.  

Support for 3iQ has also extended to the development of an innovative Bitcoin benchmark from VanEck's MV Index Solutions, which is a regulated index provider and leader in developing cryptocurrency indices and data series.  

Howard Atkinson, Chairman of 3iQ said:  

“We look forward to offering retail investors exposure to this exciting new asset class within registered and traditional investment accounts. The performance and professionalism of our legal team at Osler and our audit team from Raymond Chabot Grand Thornton (RCGT) was critical to getting support from the panel.”

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