The Brazilian ETF will debut on the B3 platform on March 1. Already thirteen Brazilian ETFs offer cryptocurrency exposure.
With a new BTC BDR (Brazilian Depositary Receipts) ETF, the iShares spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund from BlackRock will be launched in Brazil. March 1 will mark the beginning of trading, the global largest asset manager declared on February 29.
The Brazilian financial market infrastructure provider B3 will collaborate with BlackRock to offer the new product, according to BlackRock Brazil president Karina Saade at the organization’s main office in São Paulo. Says Saade:
“The launch of the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF BDR, IBIT39, advances the innovation of ETFs and allows access to bitcoin for investors through a security — the ETF BDR — that can be incorporated […] into their portfolios.”Â
BDRs of foreign ETFs are Brazilian-issued securities collateralized by shares of foreign ETFs. Thus, the Brazilian ETF is identical to the Bitcoin ETF that BlackRock introduced in January in the United States.
Its performance will be comparable to that of the U.S. ETF. It will incur an administrative fee of 0.25%, which will be compensated by a one-year exemption on the initial $5 billion of assets under management (AUM). There is a complete tax on BDRs.Â
Before investing in the Brazilian fund, investors must have accumulated a minimum of one million reals ($201,000) in market capital. Retail sales approval is still pending for BlackRock Brazil.Â
13 ETFs with cryptocurrency exposure are registered on B3, which began listing in 2021. The aggregate value of these items is $503 million, or 2.5 billion reals. Trade volume for Brazilian cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds has totaled 30 million reals ($5 million) thus far in 2018.
On January 10, the BlackRock spot BTC ETF was among ten ETFs authorized by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. In its first two weeks of operation, the fund amassed $2 billion in AUM, which tied Fidelity’s spot BTC fund for the largest inaugural month in the history of ETFs. The BlackRock ETF currently has an AUM of over $8 billion.Â
Multiple news sources indicate that BlackRock is contemplating the introduction of a spot Ethereum ETH. Whether or not it obtains SEC authorization to introduce an ETF in the United States.