According to a press release, a Canadian investment fund 3iQ Corporation has received a favourable ruling from its public hearing before a panel of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) regarding its Bitcoin fund launch.
According to the company, Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) panel has instructed its director to issue a receipt for a final prospectus of the Fund. The Bitcoin Fund, a close-end Bitcoin, is expected to be listed on a major Canadian stock exchange at the end of this year.
Toronto, Ontario-based 3iQ, founded in 2012 by investment industry veterans Jean-Luc Landry and Fred Pye , is a Canadian investment fund manager focused on providing innovative investment products of institutional quality. The company claims that its fund will be the first regulated, major exchange-listed Bitcoin fund in the world.
In February of 2019, Canadian market regulator rejected the 3iQ’s proposal to launch a regulated Bitcoin fund. The company appealed the decision and at last, was able to get approval from OSC to launch its Bitcoin fund.
Fred Pye, president and CEO of 3iQ, stated:
“Over the past three years, we have worked actively with the OSC’s Investment Funds and Structured Products Branch to create an investment fund that we hope will allow retail investors the benefits of investing in bitcoin through a regulated, listed fund. We have addressed the questions of pricing, custody, audit, and public interest issues in a regulated investment fund. We intend to refile the prospectus as soon as possible as the next step in bringing this ground breaking fund to investors.”
The company was also supported by its other US partners VanEck, who helped it in the development of an innovative bitcoin benchmark from VanEck’s MV Index Solutions.
Jan van Eck, CEO of VanEck, stated:
“We were pleased to work closely with 3iQ in both the development of the index and in working with the regulators to address their concerns. We are obviously impressed with the determination and persistence of our Canadian partners.”
Gemini, a New York-based cryptocurrency exchange, will serve as a custodian of Bitcoin in this fund.
Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder and CEO of Gemini, stated:
“3iQ has carefully selected a team of professional partners with expertise in the digital asset industry to construct a safe and secure fund product for the Canadian market, and we are excited to be selected as their custodian. As a New York Trust company we are required to store digital assets in a trusted, safe and compliant manner and will employ those principles to help 3iQ manage this innovative fund.”
