According to Bloomberg, the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) is set to list a new blockchain-based ETF, the Horizons Blockchain Technology and Hardware Index ETF fund. Steve Hawkins, the co-chief executive officer of Horizons ETFs Management Canada Inc., announced that the fund would focus on companies in the well-established global infrastructure blockchain sector and would not be taking risks on blockchain startups.
In an interview with Bloomberg Hawkins said:
We don’t know which individual blockchain companies are going to work, we have no idea what the extent of the blockchain applications will be, but we do know people will have to invest in the infrastructure to build out blockchain. It’s going to be these ancillary services to the blockchain technology where the winners are going to be at the end of the day.
Canada’s first ever blockchain-based ETF, which was initiated by Harvest Portfolios, received approval in February of this year. The fund reportedly focuses on large and small-scale blockchain corporations.
Earlier this month, investment management firm VanEck, along with SolidX Partners Inc. filed a request to list a Bitcoin-based ETF with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). If approved, the fund will target institutional investors.
VanEck is a NYC-based investment management firm with $38 billion worth of assets under management, and SolidX is a provider of blockchain software development and financial services.
The request filed with the SEC is for a fund that is physically-backed, meaning it wold be settled in actual Bitcoins, not US dollars. The firms bringing the request say that this will protect against loss or theft of the cryptocurrency.
The SEC has held a strict attitude when it comes to ETFs involving cryptocurrencies and has already rejected over a dozen applications this year.
SolidX CEO Daniel H. Gallancy said in an earlier interview with Bloomberg that he believes “regulators are concerned right now about having an ETF that is available to retail investors,” and added that this attitude will change over time, “but right now a good place to start is with a product geared purely toward institutional investors.”
