The Gibraltar Stock Exchange said Tuesday that it listed a new bitcoin fund belonging to 3iQ Corp, a Canadian investment fund manager that focuses on new technologies and crypto assets.
The announcement follows GSX Group’s recent launch of what it calls the Grid, “a venue to create and deploy debt securities, funds, and equities as ‘smart securities’ in tokenised form”. GSX is the parent company of the Gibraltar Stock Exchange.
According to the exchange, the newly listed fund tracks the price of bitcoin by using a special index feed, which was developed by crypto market data provider Cryptocompare and Vaneck Europe, an asset management firm.
3iQ’s regulated BTC fund is already being traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange since April, but this is the first time it will be entering European shores. The exchange-traded fund aims to provide retail investors with “access to bitcoin without the burden of buying and safekeeping coins,” said the company in a statement shared with news.Bitcoin.com.
U.S. crypto exchange Gemini is providing custody to the bitcoin held in the fund. 3iQ already manages two private investment funds: 3iQ bitcoin trust and the 3iQ global crypto asset fund.
Nick Cowan, chief executive officer of the Gibraltar Stock Exchange, noted that the listing of “innovative asset classes” such as the bitcoin ETF will “in turn lead to increased adoption”.
Fred Pye, president, and CEO of 3iQ said the Gibraltar listing gives financial players such as sovereign wealth funds and pension funds, which face restrictions in buying licensed, regulated exchange-listed products, access to those instruments. He added:
Being listed on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange extends the reach of the bitcoin fund within the burgeoning European digital assets market.
Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory on Spain’s south coast, has emerged as one of the most crypto-friendly countries in the world, with notable global platforms such as Etoro, Huobi, Xapo, and Bitso operating from there.
Two weeks ago, the country’s Financial Services Commission updated its guidance notes for distributed ledger technology providers to include recommendations for risk management, as well as clarify aspects around the issuance of digital assets.
What do you think about the 3iQ bitcoin fund being listed in Europe? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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