There’s increased institutional involvement in Bitcoin [BTC] and cryptocurrencies across Canada.
Dynamic Fund is the latest player to offer a simplified way for Canadian investors to gain exposure to an array of crypto assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum [ETH], Solana [SOL], and Ripple [XRP].
Commenting on the move, Dynamic’s head Mark Brisley, said crypto has matured with several tailwinds driving investor demand.
“We have witnessed an evolution in the maturity of crypto assets, supported by growing investor demand, institutional adoption, and regulatory progress.”
The Dynamic Fund seeks to offer long-term capital appreciation for investors via exposure to multiple crypto assets.
Banks are doubling down, too
The most notable aspect of this development is that Dynamic Fund serves as the asset management arm of the Bank of Nova Scotia, better known as Scotia Bank.
Canadian brokerage firms and banks have been offering access to crypto ETFs since 2021. However, Scotia Bank’s move marks a shift of banks directly moving into the sector to offer active crypto ETFs, noted Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.
“Scotia Bank has launched an active crypto-picking ETF in Canada today. Notable because first bank up there to get in game and the fee is only 25bps, very low for active and Canada.”
Source: Bloomberg
Scotia’s move mirrors a broader trend of major banks doubling down in crypto. Notably, in the U.S., Morgan Stanley has made a late entry into the U.S spot Bitcoin ETF race.
That said, from a regional perspective, Canada was one of the bullish countries into the weekend of the Iran escalations. According to CoinShares data, the country saw $34 million in inflows into its crypto products, bringing its year-to-date (YTD) flows to $142 million.
In terms of assets under management (AUM), Canada ranked third after the U.S and Germany, with $4.9 billion of crypto assets.
Source: CoinShares
Like the U.S and the U.K., Canada treats crypto as property, but only applies half of the gain for capital gains tax.
Apart from the broader regulatory framework and maturing crypto market, Canada is only playing catch-up to the U.S on stablecoin legislation. Even so, the country is aggressively pushing for clear rules for the stablecoin subsector, as well.
Final Summary
- Canada’s Scotia Bank unveiled an active multi-crypto ETF covering BTC, ETH, SOL, and XRP via its asset management arm, Dynamic Fund.
- According to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, Scotia is the first Canadian bank to actively offer crypto ETFs.
