First blockchain exchange-traded fund (ETF) has been approved by the Ontario Securities Commission, it’d be launched on the Toronto Stock Exchange next week, report says.
Harvest Portfolios, one of independent Canadian investment management companies, was said to have filed the preliminary paperwork for its Blockchain Technologies ETF in January (2018), seeking to provide Canadian investors with the opportunity to buy into the blockchain Technology sector, the Globe and Mail reports
ETF will invest “in equity securities of issuers exposed, directly or indirectly to the development and implementation of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies,” a Harvest Portfolios statement said.
According to report, two other Canadian companies, First Trust Portfolios Canada and Evolve Funds Group Inc., are also seeking to launch blockchain funds, and filed their first prospectuses with regulators this week.
According to coindesk, First Trust is already a presence in the U.S. market, offering its blockchain ETF under the ticker LEGR. The introduction in Canada of its First Trust Indxx Innovative Transaction & Process ETF (ticker: BLCK), modeled after the Indxx Blockchain Index, is the product of client demand, the company said.
“Every conversation we are having with clients – regardless if we are talking about a Canadian equities product or a U.S. equity product – inevitably leads to [a discussion about] blockchain or bitcoin,” Karl Cheong, head of ETFs for First Trust Portfolios Canada, told the Globe and Mail.
Evolve Funds Inc. claims that its proposed blockchain ETF, known as LINK, would be the first “actively managed” available to Canadian investors. The product will position the company to “capitalize on emerging opportunities in the industry.”
Its fund will invest in “equity securities of issuers that are involved in the research, development, or utilization of blockchain technologies, or involved in the supply chain for blockchain applications including technology hardware,? the company said in a statement.
This can simply be described as the expansion and adoption of blockchain technology!