Bitcoin ETF launches on Toronto Stock Exchange

SEOUL, April 16 (UPI) -- South Korea's Mirae Asset Global Investments said Friday that its Canadian affiliate has launched the first inverse bitcoin exchange-traded fund on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Horizons ETFs, a subsidiary of Mirae Asset, launched the ETF on Thursday, with the ticker BITI, that bets on the plunge of the largest cryptocurrency.

Horizons also launched an ETF product with the ticker of HBIT that allows investors to take long positions on bitcoin futures traded at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission continues to reject mounting applications for listed funds tracking bitcoin. Included in the applicants' list is Fidelity Investments.

"We know that there are polarizing views on bitcoin, and as a result, there are investors with a high degree of conviction on both the bullish and bearish cases for the asset class," Horizons CEO Steve Hawkins said in a statement.

"In launching HBIT and BITI, our goal is to provide investment tools that allow investors to get liquid access to the returns of bitcoin futures with the ability to go long or short the asset class, based on their outlook and conviction," he said.

The Purpose Bitcoin ETF, the world's first crypto ETF with the ticker BTCC, hit the Canadian market in February to attract more than $1 billion in assets in less than two months.

As the bitcoin price keeps rising, watchers expect that regulatory tide will turn in the United States. too.

"I am sure that the U.S. will follow suit of Canada in the not-so-distant future, although the bitcoin ETF is still a tough product for retail investors," cryptocurrency commentator Kang Heung-bo told UPI News Korea.

Korea Investment & Securities analyst Song Seung-yeon agreed.

"The SEC has worried about manipulation and potential losses of individual investors," Song said. "As Canada gives the nod to ETF products, however, expectations are high that the U.S. regulator will also change its stance."

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency Coinbase went public Wednesday on the Nasdaq with a valuation of about $100 billion.