Brazilian Fund Manager Teams Up With Nasdaq To Launch the World’s First Bitcoin ETF

Brazil-based regulated fund manager Hashdex has joined hands with Nasdaq to launch the world’s first Bitcoin exchange-traded-fund (ETF). The new investment instrument dubbed ‘Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index ETF’ shall be available for trading on the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX).

An exchange-traded-fund (ETF) is basically a collection of securities to track the underlying index. These investment instrument allow investor to gain exposure to certain kind of assets without actually owning them.

As part of the listing, Hashdex and Nasdaq together will issue around 3 million Class E shares. As per the local news publication Infomoney, the crypto ETF will be completely functional by the end of this year.

Hashdex’s chief executive, Marcelo Sampaio said that they decided to launch on the Bermuda Stock Exchange because of the regions crypto-friendly regulations. While not much details about the crypto ETF is currently available, the two companies said that investment instrument “represent an institutional investment scenario in cryptocurrencies”.

Nasdaq has yet to release more info regarding the ETF methodology and said that it would be available at the time of launch. Hashdex CEO also added that partnering with Nasdaq will give them a leverage to drive investors’ interest and confidence.

“This process is also expected to accelerate the entry of institutional investors in this segment. It is a trend that is increasingly becoming concrete,” he added.

Hashdex currently manages $46.4 million worth of assets across four funds that also include crypto assets. Hashdex’s crypto asset custodians are Kingdom Trust, Xapo, Vo1t

This is not for the first time that someone filed for a Bitcoin ETF. Previously, many big companies filed for Bitcoin ETF with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, they have been facing rejections all the time.

We have yet to see a launch of Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. market which will be a major milestone achieved. Recently, former Goldman Sachs executive and fund manager Raoul Pal said that we can expect a Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. in short time.

He added: “I’m going to give you the biggest front-running opportunity of your life: they will get an ETF across the line. There will be billions of dollars that pour into it. Every pension plan will allocate some money to it. Every family office will allocate some money to it. And the more the price goes up, the more they will allocate.”