K2 Asset Management has appointed State Street Australia as the fund administrator and custodian for the Cosmos Purpose Bitcoin Access ETF (CBTC) in Australia.
The fund, which launched last week after earlier delays, provides investors with exposure to crypto via a registered managed investment scheme listed on the Cboe Exchange.
“K2 Asset Management is very pleased to work with State Street and other key stakeholders to deliver a sustainable solution in the increasingly important digital and crypto segment for investors,” said K2 executive director George Boubouras.
CBTC is a fund-of-funds (FOF) and invests directly in the Purpose Bitcoin ETF listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The Canada-based fund was established to buy and hold substantially all of its assets in long-term holdings of bitcoin and has amassed $1.7 billion in assets under management since launching last year.
“Demand for cryptocurrencies is growing among Australian investors and ETFs are a cost-effective and efficient vehicle to gain exposure to this emerging asset class. However, the nature of cryptocurrencies adds new complexity to the traditional ETF operating model,” said State Street Digital APAC product lead Irfan Ahmad.
“ETF issuers need a trusted partner that has extensive experience servicing ETFs across multiple geographies and understands the intricacies of administering digital assets. We are pleased that K2 Asset Management has chosen State Street to be their partner.”
Cosmos Asset Management CEO Dan Annan described the launch of CBTC last Thursday as a significant milestone for crypto in Australia.
He said that the ETF’s structure provided investors with “a secure and easy way to introduce cryptocurrency to their asset allocation mix using the same tried-and-tested process they are already well acquainted with, and in a liquid and well-regulated market”.
The fund launched alongside two competing crypto-based ETFs on the same day: the ETFS 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (EBTC) and the ETFS 21Shares Ethereum ETF (EETH).
ETF Securities and 21Shares positioned EBTC as the first Australian ETF to invest directly in bitcoin and EETH as the first to invest directly in ether.
“The market capitalisation and trading volumes for these two leading cryptocurrencies are now larger than any company listed on the Australian stock exchanges, yet investors have not been able to gain access to them in a regulated manner,” said ETF Securities chairman Graham Tuckwell.
“By offering this access through an ETF, investors can now gain portfolio exposure to these crypto-currencies in an institutional-type way.”
