Canada’s Top 5 Bank Makes Crypto ETF Move With New Multi-Asset Fund

The fund behind the product has history with this asset class. Toronto-based 3iQ debuted one of the world’s first publicly traded spot Bitcoin funds back in 2021, well ahead of US regulators, who didn’t greenlight comparable products until early 2024.

That fund crossed $1 billion Canadian dollars in assets under management — a milestone made more striking by how small Canada’s overall ETF market is compared to its southern neighbor.

Now 3iQ is back, this time with a major bank at its side. Dynamic Funds, the asset management arm of Scotiabank, announced Wednesday the launch of the Dynamic Active Multi-Crypto ETF.

The fund trades on Cboe Canada under the ticker DXMC and gives investors regulated access to Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, and XRP through a single product listed on a traditional stock exchange — no crypto wallets, no private keys, no exchange accounts required.

Fee Cut Draws Attention Before Trading Begins

Before the fund had logged a full day of trading, it was already drawing attention for its price tag. Dynamic set the management fee at 0.25%, reduced from an original 0.45%, and locked that rate in through March 1, 2027.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas flagged the number publicly, calling it highly competitive within the space.

Multi-asset crypto funds have been growing in appeal among investors who want broad exposure without picking individual tokens.

Rather than buying and storing each asset separately across different platforms, a single ETF handles all of it inside a familiar, regulated wrapper. For retail investors especially, that simplicity carries weight.

The choice of assets also signals something. Bitcoin and Ether are fixtures in most institutional crypto products. Solana and XRP are newer additions to that tier.

XRP in particular spent years caught up in a high-profile legal dispute with US securities regulators — a fight that cast a long shadow over its institutional standing.

Its inclusion here suggests that, at least in Canada, that shadow has lifted enough to pass a bank’s compliance review.

Ownership Change Looms Over 3iQ’s Next Chapter

The timing of the launch comes with a footnote. According to reports, Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck recently agreed to acquire 3iQ for roughly $112 million in stock.

The deal has not yet closed and is expected to wrap up sometime in the second quarter of this year. How the ownership transition affects 3iQ’s existing partnerships — including the one with Dynamic Funds — remains to be seen.

Canada approved spot Bitcoin ETFs years before the US did, and its market has since expanded to include spot Ether products and a range of other digital asset funds spread across exchanges like the Toronto Stock Exchange and Cboe Canada.

Scotiabank’s entry adds another major financial institution to that list, widening the pool of Canadians who can access crypto through their standard brokerage accounts without stepping outside the regulated system.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView