(Image: Pixabay/ EivindPedersen)
Although investment via ETFs in Brazil is still timid compared to more mature markets, such as USA e Europait is interesting to note how, here, the emergence of listed funds crypto assets played a significant role in the development of this product as an investment vehicle.
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While we USA the approval of ETFs of bitcoin e ethereum spot required a long process with the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), Brazil was the first country, after Canadato approve a ETF of bitcoin – that was more than three years ago, still in March 2021.
This decision ratified the pioneering spirit that CVM had already shown this a few years earlier, when it released circular letter 11/2018, becoming one of the first regulators in the world to have objective rules for investment funds to access the market crypto assets.
Looking at historical data, it is possible to see a shift in the number of funds listed from 2021 onwards, when the first ETFs of crypto were launched in Brazil. In that year alone, more than 30 new ones were launched ETFs in Brazil, practically doubling the amount of ETFs until then available at B3.
Of the more than 30 ETFs launched in 2021, six of them were focused on crypto assetsand precisely those that stood out in number of shareholders, showing that there was a pent-up demand for investment products linked to crypto that overcame the barriers of technology, liquidity and security. Acceptance was great. In just three years, B3 already adds up to 15 ETFs of crypto assets with 230 thousand shareholders and a net worth of more than 5 billion reais, according to the July bulletin published by B3.
The list of funds available on the exchange has recently expanded, with the option of exposure to the network Solana coming in the wake of the funds of Bitcoin e Ethereum. Solana has seen significant growth over the past year, with strong network development, several updates, and the entry of new developers into its ecosystem. As more innovations emerge, it positions itself prominently in the space cryptojustifying the creation of a ETF to provide exposure to this significant growth.
The rebound effect of the popularity of ETFs of crypto was a warming in interest in ETFs as a whole. According to the B3at the end of 2020, there were 29 ETFs on the plus side.
Today, in 2024, we have 104 ETFs – there are 70 new funds in four years. In addition to new products, more investors joined. Between December 2020 and December 2021 – the period that includes the launch of the first ETFs of crypto and B3 – the number of shareholders more than doubled, rising from 242 thousand to 505 thousand, according to the bulletin ETFs published in July of this year.
However, there is another notable difference between Brazil and international markets with regard to ETFs thematic of crypto assets: the composition of investors.
While outside the vehicles of crypto are predominantly in the hands of institutional investors, here in Brazil they are more concentrated in individuals, leaving institutional investors with only a third of the net equity of ETFs of crypto assetsmost of them market makers.
But interest is growing, and we are already starting to see some institutional investors looking at ETFs of crypto as an arbitration instrument, including local funds seeking to increase their profitability in a more challenging traditional market scenario.
It is clear that the ETFs of crypto assets played a significant role in the development of this vehicle in Brazil, expanding investment options and attracting new investors. It remains to monitor these trends and understand how the number and profile of investors will evolve.