Ontario securities regulator grants approval to second bitcoin ETF in less than a week

The Ontario Securities Commission has approved a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) just days after the regulator greenlit a similar product.

A receipt dated February 16 grants the Evolve Bitcoin ETF final approval for its prospectus and paves the way for a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). Cidel Trust Company, a subsidiary of Cidel Bank Canada, is the fund's custodian. Gemini is serving as sub-custodian. The receipt was published at 2:57 p.m. ET, public records on SEDAR show.

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Evolve followed a similar path to the first-approved Purpose Bitcoin ETF. Purpose also utilized Cidel and Gemini as custodians, and received conditional approval to trade on TSX. As with Purpose's ETF, EY serves as the auditor.

Once listed, Evolve ETF will trade alongside other bitcoin products, including The Bitcoin Fund, a closed-end fund that first listed in April 2020. Other prospectuses on SEDAR, the regulator's filing database, hint at the possibility for other bitcoin-centric ETFs to receive approval.

The U.S. has yet to give the nod to a bitcoin ETF, but crypto advocates see the recent moves out of Ontario as a sign that a stateside approval might be on the horizon. 

About Author

Aislinn Keely is a reporter on The Block's policy team holding down the legal beat. She covers court decisions, bankruptcies, regulatory actions and other key moments in the legal sphere, putting them in context for the wider crypto industry. Before The Block, she lent her voice to the NPR affiliate WFUV and helmed Fordham University's student newspaper. Send tips or thoughts on all things policy and legal to [email protected] or follow her on Twitter for updates @AislinnKeely.