Following in Grayscale’s footsteps, new Bitcoin trust goes public in Canada

Canada-based investment manager Ninepoint Partners has launched trading for shares of the firm’s Bitcoin Trust on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

According to an announcement today, Ninepoint has completed an initial public offering, or IPO, for its Bitcoin Trust for CAD$230 million, or roughly $180 million. The investment firm said that it would be issuing three different classes of 17,990,491 units at a price of $10, more than 7 million of which are available for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbols BITC.U and BITC.UN for U.S. and Canadian dollars, respectively.

Ninepoint Co-CEO and managing partner John Wilson referred to the move as the “largest initial public offering of a Bitcoin investment fund in Canada to date.“ The firm said the trust would have an annual management fee of 0.70% of its net asset value, calculated daily and paid monthly.

“We believe our institutional quality trust structure and lowest management fee of any listed Bitcoin investment fund in Canada will be a winning combination for continued investor interest,” Wilsonsaid. “With this initial offering, we are laying the foundation for the success and growth of our Digital Asset Group.”

Like Grayscale’s crypto funds in the United States, Ninepoint said its objective was to expose new investors to digital currencies like Bitcoin (BTC). A fraction of the size of Grayscale with a reported CAD$7 billion in assets under management — $5.5 billion — the investment firm said it would not be exploring selling shares of the trust in the U.S.