The Canadian Asset Manager 3iQ launched a closed-fund – ‘The Bitcoin Fund’ listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange as QBTC on 9th April. The ‘Bitcoin Fund‘ has listed around 1,491,800 shares of Class A “QBTC.U” shares available on the Toronto Stock Exchange or TSX with a market capitalization of around $16.3 million. Presently, the per-share price of QBTC is $10.95.
The Fund will hold custody and other long-term investments in Bitcoin to provide investors with a convenient alternative to a direct investment in bitcoin. The price indexes being used by the fund are from crypto data company CryptoCompare and VanEck Europe.
Reportedly, the fund is available to trade in the US via Fidelity and Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. Tyler Winklevoss, the founder of Gemini and an early Bitcoin investor tweeted,
‘The Bitcoin Fund’ launched by @3iq_corp on the Toronto Stock Exchange can now be purchased via @Fidelity and @IBKR
The International Stock and Currency Trading option on Fidelity allows for the purchase of ‘common stocks and ETFs’ and some class A and B shares listed in international markets which include Canada. IBKR (Interactive Brokers Group, Inc.) is another U.S. based electronic trading platform managed by the Interactive Group LLC. brokers.
‘QBTC’ is a closed-ended fund similar to Grayscale’s GBTC fund. Currently, GBTC can be traded through a brokerage firm, and it is also available within tax-advantaged accounts like IRAs or 401(k)s.
The price of these funds depends upon the number of shares issued, assets held to back up the fund and the premium on their purchase. The asset under management of the GBTC fund as of 14th April 2020 is $2.1 billion with around 0.00096381 BTC per share priced at $7.33 at press time.
