The Bitcoin Fund is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

   The Bitcoin Fund is a closed-end cryptocurrency investment fund added to the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The 3iQ investment fund manager said The Bitcoin Fund, approved for launch by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) in October, began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).

The fund operates on the same basis as an ETP: investors buy the fund's shares and are able to benefit from price movements in the underlying asset. The fund tracks the value of BTC using an index jointly developed by MV Index Solutions (MVIS), a subsidiary of VanEck Europe, and CryptoCompare, a cryptographic data provider.

The fund is divided into two types of shares: class A for all types of investors and class F for institutional players. Only class A shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Fred Pye, president and CEO of 3iQ, said the total value of Class A shares is about $14 million.

MVIS Managing Director Thomas Kettner said a listing of The Bitcoin Fund on the stock exchange "will help strengthen the status of digital assets as a class. 3iQ has been seeking approval for a Bitcoin fund listing on the OSC for over three years. 3iQ cryptographic analyst Connor Loewen noted that the decision to list on the Toronto Stock Exchange was made because the fund had already received OSC approval.

TSX is the largest and most active stock exchange in Canada. Although other exchanges are also listing cryptovoltaic companies, TSX is the most active. Last February, Voyager Digital, a cryptocurrency broker, listed TSX through a reverse takeover of public company UC Resources. In addition, in August 2018, Galaxy Digital's cryptocurrency bank was also listed on the exchange.

3iQ President Fred Pai expressed some concerns about the timing of the listing as the world continues to grapple with the Coronavirus pandemic, which has severely impacted financial markets.

"It is difficult to launch such a unique offer at a time when investors are concerned about their health and protection of capital," he said. "However, long-term protection of purchasing power is exactly what a bitcoin can do".