Canadian investment firm plans to plant trees for every Bitcoin ETF investment
Accelerate Financial Technologies plans to match investments in its unresolved Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the planting of thousands of trees.
The Calgary-based investment services company has made a commitment to plant 3,450 trees for every CAD 1 million invested in its Bitcoin ETF, according to a Bloomberg report.
Accelerate is aiming to operate a green Bitcoin ETF, hence the move. The company maintains that each major investment would result in the offset of 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide.
Julian Klymochko, the Chief Investment Officer of Accelerate, dismissed claims that the company is falsely marketing itself as an environmentally friendly firm. He opined that the firm would rather plant trees instead of purchasing carbon credits.
A lot of companies in the crypto community have announced solutions using renewable energy sources following growing concerns over the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies.
Accelerate filed the application for its Bitcoin ETF with Canadian securities regulators in February. The product will be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker ABTC.
Canadian regulators have given the green light to many Bitcoin and Ether ETFs in 2021, unlike the US Securities and Exchange Commission that is yet to approve any crypto ETF in the United States.