CFS Edge adds BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust to investment menu

From

Bryce Quirk

Colonial First State (CFS) has today announced that the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) is available on CFS Edge.

Commenting on yesterday’s announcement, CFS Group Executive Distribution Bryce Quirk said CFS Edge continues to expand its investment menu to meet the growing demands of financial advisers and their clients.

“Advisers continue to share feedback that their clients have varying investment needs. They have asked us to expand the breadth of asset classes they can access via Edge,” Mr Quirk said.

“We are pleased to build on our existing relationship with BlackRock by offering their iShares Bitcoin Trust to advised Australians with an appetite for these types of assets,” he said.

“This is one of many planned inclusions to broaden investment options for advisers and their clients.”

Given the volatility associated with this asset type, the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust is only available on CFS Edge for investors who have a financial adviser.

Bitcoin is the world’s largest cryptocurrency since launching 15 years ago, with a market cap of over USD $1.3 trillion.

The BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) is an exchange-traded fund that seeks to reflect generally the performance of the price of bitcoin and trades on the NASDAQ. It enables investors to access bitcoin within a traditional brokerage account, without having to buy, store, or manage it directly.

Yesterday’s announcement reflects a further expansion of the CFS Edge investment menu, which also includes access to international equities across 15 stock exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ, as well as 10 currencies including US dollars, Euros and Pounds Sterling.

It comes after the launch of the Accelerate Series, which combines reduced investment fees with discounted administration fees to deliver a highly competitive Separately Managed Account (SMA) solution.

There are now over 100 managed accounts and more than 50 tailored accounts on the platform from leading investment managers including BlackRock, Fidelity, Infinity Asset Management, Lonsec, Morningstar, and Russell Investments.