As
investors
continue
to
await
approval
of
a
spot
bitcoin
exchange-traded
fund
(ETF)
in
the
U.S.,
a
check
of
Brazil
finds
hefty
demand
for
such
vehicles
which
have
been
trading
in
that
country
for
more
than
two
years.
Together,
those
ETFs
have
$96.8
million
of
assets
under
management
(AUM)
as
of
November
21,
led
by
Hashdex’s
Nasdaq
Bitcoin
Reference
Price
FDI
(BITH11)
with
$57.8
million
in
AUM
as
of
November
21,
or
a
market
share
of
about
60%.
As
comparison,
the
largest
ETF
in
the
nation,
iShares
Ibovespa
Index
(BOVA11),
has
$2.41
billion
in
AUM
and
the
second
largest,
the
iShares
BM&FBOVESPA
Small
Cap
(SMAL11),
has
$1.19
billion
in
AUM.
For
reference,
the
largest
U.S.
ETF,
the
SPDR
S&P
500,
has
roughly
$430
billion
in
AUM.
According
to
Marcelo
Sampaio,
CEO
and
founder
of
Hashdex,
the
success
of
bitcoin
ETFs
in
Brazil
is
the
result
of
pro-market
digital
assets
regulation
and
growing
interest
from
large
institutions
for
said
products.
“There
is
a
growing
positive
sentiment
across
the
most
sophisticated
investors
and
we’ve
been
seeing
increasing
interest
from
some
of
the
largest
institutions
whether
that
be
either
allocating
or
considering
adding
crypto
soon
to
their
portfolios,”
said
Sampaio
in
an
interview
with
CoinDesk.
Hashdex’s
spot
bitcoin
ETF
started
trading
on
August
1,
2021.
Hashdex
also
offers
a
crypto
index
ETF
that
includes
BTC,
ETH
and
other
cryptos
and
which
garners
a
lot
more
investment
than
the
spot
bitcoin
ETF,
said
Sampaio.
Combined,
Hashdex’s
crypto-related
ETF
AUM
is
currently
around
$500
million.
Hashdex
is
also
among
those
with
outstanding
applications
for
spot
bitcoin
ETFs
with
the
U.S.
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission
(SEC).
The
agency
–
as
it’s
done
with
other
applicants
of
late
–
last
week
delayed
any
decision
on
the
Hashdex
filing.
Other
spot
bitcoin
ETF
providers
in
Brazil
include
Itau
́
Asset
Management,
which
teamed
up
with
Mike
Novogratz’s
Galaxy
Digital
to
launch
a
fund
last
year,
and
an
offering
from
QR
Capital,
which
launched
in
2021,
has
$36
million
in
AUM,
according
to
data
from
Hashdex.
There
has
traditionally
been
a
lot
of
interest
in
crypto
ETFs
from
the
Brazilian
public,
said
Gui
Silva,
a
managing
partner
at
Tagus
Capital,
and
the
number
of
investors
in
digital
asset
ETFs
will
only
continue
to
grow.
“There
are
about
4
million
investors
with
accounts
at
the
B3
stock
exchange
in
Brazil
and
around
700,000
of
these
invest
in
ETFs,”
he
said.
“About
one-third
of
those
investors
allocated
funds
to
crypto
ETFs
last
year.”
A
reason
for
the
strong
appetite
in
ETF
investing
in
Brazil
might
be
due
to
the
low
fees,
according
to
Silva.
“ETF
fees
in
Brazil
range
from
0.5%
to
1.5%
–
which
is
considered
relatively
low
compared
to
other
products
in
the
market,”
he
added.
