Ninepoint Proposes Conversion of Bitcoin Trust into Exchange Traded Fund

Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for dissemination in the United States

TORONTO, March 03, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ninepoint Partners LP (“Ninepoint”), the manager of Bitcoin Trust (the “Fund”) (TSX: BITC.U; BITC.UN), announces that a special meeting of unitholders (“Unitholders”) of the Fund will be held on or about April 19, 2021 (the “Meeting”).

At the Meeting, Unitholders will be asked to approve the conversion of the Fund (the “Conversion”) from a closed-end investment fund into an exchange-traded fund (“ETF”), along with certain other changes considered ancillary, necessary or desirable, in the opinion of Ninepoint to facilitate and implement the Conversion. Upon the effective date of the Conversion, the Fund will become “Ninepoint Bitcoin ETF”. The Fund will continue to trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”) under its current ticker symbols until the effective date of the Conversion.   Subject to the fulfillment of TSX requirements, after the Conversion, Ninepoint expects that the units of Ninepoint Bitcoin ETF will continue to trade on the TSX in US dollars under the symbol “BITC.U” and will trade on the TSX in Canadian dollars under the symbol “BITC”.

“By taking this step, Ninepoint is demonstrating its long-term commitment to being Canada’s leading provider of innovative, safe and efficient digital asset investment products,” said James Fox, Co-CEO and Managing Partner of Ninepoint.

All costs of the Conversion, including with respect to the Meeting, will be borne by Ninepoint.

Ninepoint believes that Unitholders will benefit from the Conversion for the following reasons:

• Better Trading Price Relative to NAV per Unit and Reduced Bid/Ask Spread: Ninepoint anticipates that an improvement in the trading price of the units of the Fund (relative to the NAV per unit of the Fund) will provide a meaningful increase in value for Unitholders. As at March 2, 2021, prior to the announcement of the Meeting, the Fund had a 9.13% discount to NAV in US dollars (BITC.U), and a 9.37% discount to NAV in Canadian dollars (BITC.UN), respectively. Market makers for ETFs are able to price their bids and asks for ETF units tightly around their estimate of NAV. It is expected that bid/ask spreads will be significantly reduced from the Fund’s bid/ask spread. This is beneficial to investors because a smaller bid/ask spread is expected to result in a lower effective cost to buy or sell ETF units.
• Increased Trading Liquidity:   Approved dealers acting as market makers for an ETF are able to offer or bid for large volumes of that ETF on a stock exchange, as approved dealers have the ability to create or redeem ETF units daily in large blocks directly from the ETF. This is expected to result in improved liquidity, allowing an investor to buy or sell large amounts of Ninepoint Bitcoin ETF units without materially affecting the market price.
• No Change to Investment Strategy: The specific investment strategies of the Fund are expected to remain substantially similar, before and after the Conversion.
  

Unitholders of record of the Fund at the close of business on March 19, 2021 will be entitled to vote at the Meeting. If approved, the Conversion is expected to be implemented in May 2021, subject to obtaining the required regulatory approvals. Details of the proposed Conversion will be further outlined in the Fund’s Notice of Special Meeting of Unitholders and management information circular that will be prepared and delivered to Unitholders in connection with the Meeting and will be available under the Fund’s profile on www.sedar.com.

About Ninepoint Partners LP

Based in Toronto, Ninepoint Partners is one of Canada’s leading alternative investment management firms overseeing approximately $8 billion in assets under management and institutional contracts. Committed to helping investors explore innovative investment solutions that have the potential to enhance returns and manage portfolio risk, Ninepoint offers a diverse set of alternative strategies including North American Equity, Global Equity, Real Assets & Alternative Income. Ninepoint Digital Asset Group is a division of Ninepoint Partners.

For more information on Ninepoint, please visit www.ninepoint.com or inquiries regarding the Offering, please contact us at (416) 943-6707 or (866) 299-9906 or invest@ninepoint.com.

Media Contact:
Wealth Matters Consulting
Mary Victoria Falzarano
561-578-0697
MVF@WEALTHMATTERSCONSULTING.COM

Certain statements included in this news release constitute forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, those identified by the expressions “expects”, “intends”, “anticipates”, “will” and similar expressions to the extent that they relate to the Fund. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect Ninepoint's current expectations regarding future results or events. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. Although Ninepoint believes the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and, accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. Neither the Fund nor Ninepoint undertake any obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statement or information whether as a result of new information, future events or other such factors which affect this information, except as required by law.