George Boubouras
K2 Asset Management has announced the appointment of State Street Australia Limited, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), as the fund administrator and custodian in Australia for the Cosmos Purpose Bitcoin Access ETF (Cboe: CBTC), Australia’s first cryptocurrency ETF ultimately backed by physically settled Bitcoin.
The partnership sees State Street administering and providing custodial services in Australia to a fund that provides Australian investors with exposure to cryptocurrency via a registered managed investment scheme listed on Cboe (formerly Chi-X Australia). In turn, the scheme invests in a listed offshore fund whose holdings include Bitcoin.
“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 George Boubouras, Executive Director of K2.
CBTC’s underlying asset is the Purpose Bitcoin ETF which is managed by Purpose Investments and quoted on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The Purpose Bitcoin ETF has been established to buy and hold substantially all of its assets in long-term holdings of Bitcoin.
CBTC will track the total return performance of the Purpose Bitcoin ETF, with the unique structure giving investors an efficient way to gain exposure to the Bitcoin asset class on an Australian regulated exchange.
“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 Irfan Ahmad, State Street Digital APAC product lead. “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.”