Canada's largest digital asset investment manager 3iQ launched the world's first Ether-based Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Although a delay in closing the funds' IPO prospectus made keen traders begrudgingly wait two hours after the market opened to start trading, an impressive 345,331 shares were traded across the day. In terms of performance, the fund opened for trading at $10.80 a share, progressing to reach $11.48 at its highest, with a closing price of $11.02. In layman terms this represents an overall gain of 2.5% and a solid start in the market for the fund.
This is not 3iQ's first attempt at making digital assets more accessible to investors. Last year April, the company launched its Bitcoin Fund which crossed the $100 million market cap threshold, by October 2020. Considering the significant growth in these shares indicates the recognisable demand for digital asset ETF's, it is no surprise that 3iQ has developed yet another way to give exposure to digital assets to investors.
Australian regulatory authorities and the ASX have been so far extremely hesitant / unwilling to allow an ETF focused on the digital asset market to make its way to retail investors, and in doing so have permitted Canada to pip Australia to the post.
Cointelegraph explains:
The fund was launched by Canada’s biggest digital asset investment manager 3iQ, as a way for traders and investors to gain exposure to the Ethereum market without having to purchase, store or sell ETH themselves. At an average price of $565 per ETH, each share of QETH.U represented roughly 0.0187 ETH at the beginning of the trading day. The coins backing the fund’s shares are being held by Gemini Custody, the custodial arm of crypto exchange giant Gemini.
The company firmly believes digital asset backed securities should be made available on major stock exchanges. In a recent press release it explained:
Gaining access to digital assets [...] can be daunting, costly, and inconvenient. 3iQ offers investors convenient and familiar investment products to gain exposure to digital assets.
The movement by international markets to accept financial products backed by digital assets is a call to action for Australian markets and regulators to understand how these products could be offered to Australian investors.