Latin America’s largest asset manager, Itaú Asset Management, has partnered with Galaxy Digital to offer a crypto exchange traded fund (ETF) in Brazil.
Its first offering, the IT Now Bloomberg Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BITI11), began offering investors exposure to Bitcoin (BTC). We plan to offer other diverse ETFs later. The announcement was shared via a press release yesterday.
Founded in 1957, Itau Asset Management has been in operation for over 60 years and is the largest private asset manager in Latin America. It has approximately $165 billion in assets under management.
Regulatory Ambiguity Regarding Crypto ETFs
Cryptocurrency ETFs are a new asset class around the world and remain largely undefined due to regulatory ambiguity. Crypto ETFs have become popular among investors due to their low cost of ownership and diversified fund exposure. The first cryptocurrency ETF, the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, started trading in October 2021.
Instead of the actual cryptocurrency price, the ETF stock price reflects the price movements of the derivative. As a result, the price of a particular cryptocurrency ETF’s stock will rise in line with the price of the futures contract. Currently, the scope of regulatory bodies for cryptocurrency ETFs is unclear.
Brazil is the leading country in Latin America for adoption of cryptocurrencies
according to Chainalysis 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index, Brazil ranks 7th in terms of crypto adoption. Among Latin American countries, Brazil leads stocks.
In October 2022, Finder.com ranked the country 8thth Regarding the adoption of cryptography. According to its findings, 29.8 million Brazilians own cryptocurrencies, 31% of whom own Bitcoin. Brazil has a cryptocurrency ownership rate of 18%, above the global average of 14%.
As the narrative around the FTX crisis unfolds, Galaxy Digital reveals its exposure to FTX. Galaxy recently announced its third quarter 2022 results. It has been revealed that FTX has $76.8 million worth of assets listed, of which $47.5 million is currently in the process of exiting. Also, his net loss for the period was $68.1 million, compared to his $517.9 million profit in the same period last year.
