A Bitcoin ETF has been approved in North America. Canadian securities regulators on Thursday approved the first publicly traded Bitcoin exchange-traded fund Purpose Bitcoin ETF.

While everyone was looking at the SEC to approve the first ETF in the US, Canada has made a move for it and proven its progressive view of Bitcoin and crypto at large. The Bitcoin ETF is set to provide exposure to long term, “high-risk” investors. The approval is set to cover these territories, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Labrador and Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Manitoba, and Nunavut.

The Purpose Bitcoin ETF will debut in the Toronto Stock Exchange BTCC.U. The fund will buy Bitcoin that investors can buy in Canadian or US Dollars. It is reported that it will offer its units at market price plus management fees and expense fees.

Bulls Celebrate Bitcoin ETF Approval in Canada

In past interviews, the founder and CEO of Accelerate, the firm behind an ETF seeking to offer ABTC units on the Toronto Stock Exchange, has talked about the opportunity firms see in the new asset class.

“Bitcoin has been one of the best-performing asset classes on a 1-year, 3-year, 5-year, and 10-year basis, both absolute and risk-adjusted. Given Bitcoin’s historical track record and future potential, along with its portfolio diversification properties, we are looking forward to offering investors exposure to the asset class in an easy-to-use, low-cost ETF.”

Notably, this is the second ETF approval in the world this week. Earlier in the week, Bermuda approved a Hashdex and US stock exchange Nasdaq ETF that is set to expose investors to Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Stellar Lumens, Chainlink, Litecoin, and Bitcoin of course.

In Canada, there are still a number of filed ETFs. The decision to reject or approve remains with the regulators. But following the approval of the Purpose Bitcoin ETF, most look set to pass.

Following this news, bulls seem to have taken control of the market. Bitcoin has gained around 5% at the time of press. This has successfully pushed prices back above $47K. However, the ETF news is not the only positive development in the last few hours. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has contributed after announcing that his Bitcoin resolution has been approved. The Mayor has the approval to pay employees in BTC, allow for city fees and taxes in BTC. It further looks into investing part of the city treasury in BTC.

Read more: Coinspeaker

The largest digital currency, Bitcoin has been referred to as a robust store of value, digital gold, and a hedge against the US dollar. At a time when the USD looks weak and Bitcoin’s value has been increasing in the market, some onlookers believe that gold could act as a hedge for cryptos.

Bitcoin has currently seen its demand exceeded most digital assets as Elon Musk got on the Bitcoin bandwagon. Musk’s company Tesla recently announced its purchase of nearly $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, which triggered BTC to a new all-time high. Such drastic volatility in the market, although followed by gains, has many new investors worried but according to the CEO of Newcrest Mining Ltd. Sandeep Biswas,

“If you’re into cryptos, you want to consider having some gold.”

Gold and Bitcoin have been acting as a hedge against global trends, but now that things have become even more unpredictable and Bitcoin’s value has spiked, the digital asset has become unaffordable for many.

Interestingly, the Bitcoin and gold correlation which had remained strongest for some time now has been falling. The reason for this fall could be associated with the rising volatility in the market.

The above chart demonstrates the high correlation witnessed towards the end of 2020, but as Bitcoin’s price rallied higher towards the beginning of 2021, the correlation started to drop. It fell from 0.1329 and dropped under zero recently to -0.0089.

This fall in correlation makes gold an ideal alternative to its so-called digital version – Bitcoin. Biswas shared a similar sentiment as he stated that bullion “may act as a bit of a hedge” against crypto volatility.

There are no doubts about the coexistence of Bitcoin and gold. Even though their correlation has taken a hit we may see the two assets’ correlation rise with time. However, does this mean the volatility may also be shared by the two assets?

The analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. believed that “a convergence in volatilities between Bitcoin and gold is unlikely to happen quickly” despite the similar reasons shared by the users to invest in the two assets. For Bitcoin to compete with Gold, its market capitalization has to multiply at least four times but till then, the chances for volatility to jump from the Bitcoin market to gold will be a play only visible in the long-term.

Read more: AMB CRYPTO