It is understood that the first bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) approved in Latin America will go on sale in Brazil this summer.
QR Capital, the mother of the Brazilian asset management company QR Asset Management, announced the ETF launch today and indicated that the product would be listed on the Brazilian Stock Exchange B3. According to a translated report from CNN Brazil, it should be listed by June and it will be referenced in the bitcoin index of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) futures contracts.
“QR Asset Management has received a guarantee from the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission to launch its bitcoin ETF at B3,” according to the report. “The primary offering of the assets, estimated at approximately 500 million [real], will be for qualified investors. ”
The announcement comes as more institutional investors have poured into bitcoin and regularly allocated their tax reserve assets in BTC for fear that US dollar inflation will weaken their stocks. This, coupled with a continuing price surge, growing general adoption of retail and more Bitcoin functionality being built, all combine to reduce bitcoin as an asset – a trend that is clearly driving the growth of bitcoin ETFs.
North America last month had its first regulator-approved ETF launch in Canada, which immediately broke records in the first week. Meanwhile, several companies are trying to launch a bitcoin ETF for the US. With this latest announcement from Brazil contributing the continuing momentum, it appears that a US-approved bitcoin ETF is on the horizon.