Asset manager QR launches Bitcoin ETF on Brazilian stock exchange

Brazilian asset manager QR Asset Management started trading its Bitcoin exchange-traded product on B3.

The Brazil Stock Exchange, or B3, has launched trading of another Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund, marking the growing acceptance of the crypto industry in the country.

Brazilian asset manager QR Asset Management started trading its Bitcoin ETF with the ticker QBTC11 on the Sao Paulo-based B3 exchange on Wednesday, Cointelegraph Brazil reported.

The listing comes several months after the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission approved QR’s Bitcoin ETF in March alongside another crypto-based ETF by Latin American crypto investment firm Hashdex. In contrast to Hashdex’s crypto ETF product, which offers a diversified portfolio to several cryptocurrencies, QR’s ETF product provides exposure exclusively to Bitcoin.

QR Capital founder and CEO Fernando Carvalho said that the acceptance of a crypto ETF is a symbol of security as it enables investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin directly on the B3, without relying on unregulated platforms:

“The QBTC11 is a milestone both in the conventional financial market and in the digital asset industry as it is a point of convergence between the two. Investors now have a regulated, low-cost and robust option to expose themselves directly to the most important crypto asset on the market, Bitcoin.”

QR’s Bitcoin ETF is not the only cryptocurrency ETF listed on the B3. In April, the Brazilian stock exchange rolled out trading for the country’s first crypto-based ETF index, Hashdex’s HASH11. HASH11 replicates the Nasdaq Crypto Index that consists of multiple cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ether (ETH), Stellar (XLM), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Chainlink, and is rebalanced quarterly.

Bitcoin ETFs are gaining traction in multiple jurisdictions. Canadian asset manager 3iQ rolled out its Bitcoin Fund ETF on Nasdaq Dubai on Wednesday. Canada is another major country that has been moving forward with BTC ETFs, with 3iQ and CoinShares’ Bitcoin ETF going live on the Toronto Stock Exchange in April 2020. Despite growing global acceptance, the United States regulators are yet to approve a Bitcoin ETF, having delayed multiple regulatory decisions on such products in the past weeks.