Fidelity Tired of Waiting on SEC, Heads to Canada for Bitcoin ETF

Investment giant Fidelity has headed north for its Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) filing as U.S. financial regulators continue to procrastinate on approvals.

According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Nov 22, the Fidelity Advantage Bitcoin ETF will invest in bitcoin directly or through derivative instruments.

Investors will be able to make purchases using Canadian or U.S. dollars. The EFT could launch on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker FBTC this week according to Bloomberg. Fidelity will be the largest asset manager to launch a bitcoin ETF.

On Dec 1, Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas commented:

This should be embarrassing for the SEC that one of America’s biggest, most storied names in investing is forced to go up North to serve its clients. But it prob won’t matter.

Fidelity steps on the gas

In mid-September, Fidelity executives met with SEC officials in a private conference with the aim of providing more information on the products to the regulatory body. Fidelity provided several reasons why crypto ETFs should be approved including increasing investor demand for crypto assets, a growing number of Bitcoin holders, and the launch of similar funds in other countries.

The appeal appears to have fallen on deaf ears.

Two and a half months later and their ETF filings are still in the pending queue as the SEC continues to drag its feet on approvals. Fidelity originally filed for a Bitcoin ETF called the Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust in March.

The SEC has approved a couple of futures-backed Bitcoin ETFs but has yet to greenlight a spot-based one that would invest in the asset directly. Commenting on SEC chair Gary Gensler’s concerns, President of the ETF Store, Nate Geraci, stated:

“If the SEC has these concerns, then why did they let Coinbase go public? There are more Coinbase accts than Schwab accts. Users pay 3% commissions to buy crypto (which they don’t own keys to). What’s difference b/w that and spot bitcoin ETF?”

On Dec 1, Gensler said that Bitcoin was created “as a reaction” to the U.S. monetary system and is a competitor to its banking system.

In other ETF news

On Dec 2, Balchunas reported that VanEck have made a new filing for a Digital Assets Mining ETF though details were thin on the ground at the time of writing.

Purpose Investments launched the world’s first actively managed and covered call Cryptocurrency ETFs on Nov 30. The Purpose Bitcoin Yield ETF, Purpose Ether Yield ETF, and Purpose Crypto Opportunities ETF began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday.