Would you dig through your attic for an old hard drive if it had bitcoin on it? In this episode, we explore why Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have become so valuable and why Canadian investors are watching the space with interest. We take a look at new financial products being built around these cryptocurrencies now arriving on the scene - ETFs, futures contracts, trust funds, and new vehicles for investing in blockchain technologies. Find out why Canada could beat the United States in bringing regulated bitcoin products to market.

Our guests for this episode:

Karsten Arend, President, Just In-Genius Inc. Karl Cheong, Head of ETFs, Canada (exerpt below) Shidan Gouran, President, Global Blockchain Technologies Elliott Johnson, Chief Operating Officer, Evolve ETFs

Views expressed do not necessarily represent those of Navigator or its affiliates. 

A portion of our discussion with Karl Cheong is transcribed below. Subscribe here to have the Navigator's latest insights delivered right to your inbox.

Clare:  You had mentioned earlier that there are some challenges both here in Canada with the OSC and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission looking at these Bitcoin ETFs and not sure what to do with them. Will we ever get to a point where there's a real chance these products come to market and if they do what does that mean?

Karl: Yeah. So I do believe in every asset class I have ever seen whether it be gold or equities and real estate, if there is enough demand by the public it will be made available in some form. We're already seeing some form of access to Bitcoin via over-the-counter trusts. Just because there is no Bitcoin available right now, there's one in the U.S. I'm thinking of in particular G BTC that trades in the over the counter market. So it's an exchange traded fund but it's not exactly like an ETF in a sense that it trades at a 55 percent premium to the net asset value of the product because you cannot create in redeem shares. But if an investor wanted to go on an online account they can get access to the Bitcoin price by paying a huge premium to do so. And so that's why I feel the ETF will make it far more efficient for the everyday investor to get access to a burgeoning asset class.

Now I would say though you know the timing is going to be a bit tricky. When I first started talking about this I thought it was going to be by summertime, given the demand and what we saw. And and we have filings that have been in the market place for over three years four years with the Winklevoss twins being the first to file. So I feel they've been working with regulators and they're going to need to continue and educate and address these concerns. I would say it's probably going to happen in the next three years. But that's kind of ... I don't have the crystal ball. And obviously regulators will do the necessary homework they need to on this product. But as it becomes more of a utility in society and you see more companies accepting crypto currencies,  you'll see others like you know Kodak, for example, they're creating their coin that they can pay others and remittances in other areas. I feel this this whole blockchain and Bitcoin concept can really disrupt many and it becomes more everyday usage. You'll see a product eventually.

Clare: Yes exactly. And you know what the regulators have been okay with, we saw back in February the OSC approved Canada's first blockchain ETF. Is that a different way to go, is that is that a better way to go right now. And why do they think that's a that's a better product or a product that has less uncertainty than say a Bitcoin ETF.

Karl: So we also launched a Bitcoin ETF last Friday and so I expected less red tape with blockchain ETFs. There are several in the U.S., there's a few here in Canada now because it's investing in the underlying securities. And so I'll give you a few examples of companies that we hold in our blockchain ETF tha...