BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT) today announced that it has been appointed as the fund administrator and transfer agent of the VanEck Bitcoin Trust (‘The Trust’) a new bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) that is currently pending approval by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The Trust is proposed to be the first of its kind US listed ETF offering exposure to bitcoin. The Trust’s investment objective is to reflect the performance of the MVIS® CryptoCompare Bitcoin Benchmark Rate less the expenses of the Trust’s operations.
“VanEck is committed to support financial innovation in the digital assets space. We believe that, when the ETF is approved, the Trust will improve both financial and digital asset markets by providing investors with a simple, efficient, and an institutionally-backed vehicle to gain access to the Bitcoin markets,” said Gabor Gurbacs, Director of Digital Assets Strategy at VanEck.
Pending approval by the SEC, State Street will continue to work closely with VanEck on all aspects of the launch and provide services including ETF basket operations, custody of the ETF shares, fund accounting, order-taking and transfer agency.
“We are pleased to continue expanding our relationship with VanEck to support their innovative advancements in the ETF market; including the VanEck Bitcoin Trust,” said Nadine Chakar, head of State Street Global Markets. “We see the implementation of digital assets as one of the most transformational forces affecting our industry over the next 5 years, and we are already very actively engaged with clients and partners in delivering solutions. The work we have underway with VanEck is another example of State Street continuing to deliver on our broader strategy of building out the crypto and digital assets ecosystem, which is focused on creating digital cash; custody and post trade services; trading; and token issuance for these new asset-types.”
State Street has been actively engaged in the digital asset space for a number of years including working with Gemini since 2019 on a digital asset pilot, as well as being one of the co-founders in Fnality, an industry consortium developing a regulated wholesale payment system leveraging blockchain technology. In 2018, State Street partnered with Lukka, a crypto reference data provider, valuation and reconciliation tool, to co-develop comprehensive digital asset fund administration services. And in late 2020, State Street led Lukka’s series C funding, signifying the growing importance of crypto assets in the financial services industry.
VanEck began entrusting State Street with its Australia ETF business in 2016. Since that time, it consolidated services for its Ireland, Netherlands and US based ETFs to State Street. Today, State Street remains the largest global ETF servicer, servicing close to 70% of US ETF assets, and is the only provider serving all major ETF regions.*
* Statistics compiled using ETFGI’s ETF Monthly Insights as-of July 2020 and State Street’s internal research
About State Street
State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) is one of the world's leading providers of financial services to institutional investors including investment servicing, investment management and investment research and trading. With $38.8 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration and $3.5 trillion* in assets under management as of December 31, 2020, State Street operates globally in more than 100 geographic markets and employs approximately 39,000 worldwide. For more information, visit State Street's website at www.statestreet.com.
*Assets under management as of December 31, 2020 includes approximately $75 billion of assets with respect to SPDR® products for which State Street Global Advisors Funds Distributors, LLC (SSGA FD) acts solely as the marketing agent. SSGA FD and State Street Global Advisors are affiliated.
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