Canada’s first public Bitcoin fund hits $1 billion

Canadian regulated digital asset manager 3iQ has recorded another massive milestone of its public Bitcoin (BTC) fund.

On Jan. 14, 3iQ’s Bitcoin Fund (QBTC) hit the $1 billion mark, the company announced on Twitter. The new milestone demonstrates QBTC’s parabolic growth after 3iQ launched the fund in April 2020. QBTC is now up 900% from its previous milestone of $100 million recorded in October 2020.

As previously reported, 3iQ’s QBTC is Canada's first public Bitcoin fund listed on a major stock exchange, the Toronto Stock Exchange. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss' Gemini provides custody services for 3iQ’s QBTC.

At publishing time, QBTC.U is trading at $48.63, up 330% from $11 when it was listed in April.

3iQ is apparently one of the largest cryptocurrency firms in Canada. In January 2018, 3iQ reportedly became the first crypto fund regulated by the Ontario Securities Commission and the Canadian Securities Administrators. In February 2020, 3iQ also partnered with blockchain startup Mavennet to launch a stablecoin pegged to the Canadian dollar that will be regulated by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada.

3iQ’s former senior executive Shaun Cumby is now also the CEO of Arxnovum, a company that on Jan. 11 filed an application with OSC for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund. Winklevoss’ Gemini will also provide its custody for the Arxnovum’s Bitcoin ETF.