BlackRock Canada has given investors a new way to mix stock market exposure with a small dose of cryptocurrency, launching a fund that pairs global equities with a fixed 3% allocation to Bitcoin. The move expands BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF presence in Canada beyond stand-alone crypto products and folds digital-asset exposure directly into a traditional, diversified portfolio.
Summary
Key takeaways
- BlackRock Canada launched the iShares Equity + Bitcoin ETF Portfolio (IBQT) on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Aug. 10, targeting a 97% equity and 3% Bitcoin split.
- IBQT gets its crypto exposure through BlackRock’s Canadian iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT), which trades on Cboe Canada, rather than holding Bitcoin directly.
- The fund charges an annual management fee of 0.22%, and BlackRock simultaneously launched an international equity fund, XINT, with a 0.23% fee.
- XINT tracks more than 5,000 companies outside Canada and the United States through the MSCI ACWI ex North America IMI Index.
- Both funds are run by BlackRock Asset Management Canada through the RBC iShares alliance, while BlackRock’s U.S.-listed iShares Bitcoin Trust pulled in roughly $693 million last week, about 81% of all U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF inflows.
IBQT combines global equities with a slice of Bitcoin exposure
IBQT is built to give Canadian investors combined equity and Bitcoin exposure without forcing them to buy the two separately. The iShares Equity + Bitcoin ETF Portfolio, trading under the ticker IBQT, began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Aug. 10, and it Its strategic allocation framework designates 97% toward equities, with the remaining 3% allocated to Bitcoin. The equity component spans Canadian, U.S., international and emerging markets.
Rather than picking individual stocks or holding Bitcoin outright, the fund invests mainly in other iShares ETFs to assemble that mix. It’s a fund-of-funds structure, which lets BlackRock package a full portfolio — stocks plus crypto — into a single TSX-listed ticker.
Bitcoin exposure runs through the Canadian iShares Bitcoin ETF
IBQT’s crypto sleeve comes through BlackRock’s Canadian iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT), which has been trading on Cboe Canada since January 2025. That means investors in IBQT never hold Bitcoin directly; they hold shares of a fund that holds shares of another fund tracking Bitcoin’s price. BlackRock set the fund’s annual management fee at 0.22%, a figure that already folds in the fees charged by its underlying ETFs.
“The launch of these two funds underscores our continued commitment to expanding access to investing for Canadians through low-cost, one-ticker solutions,” said Steven Leong, head of Canada product and iShares at BlackRock.
A companion international equity fund rounds out the launch
Alongside IBQT, BlackRock Canada also introduced the iShares Core MSCI All-International Equity Index ETF, listed under the ticker XINT, which carries a 0.23% annual management fee. XINT tracks the MSCI ACWI ex North America IMI Index, covering encompasses in excess of 5,000 companies of varying sizes—large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap—distributed throughout more than 40 nations in both developed and emerging economic zones.
Crucially, XINT excludes Canada and the United States entirely. That makes it less of a headline product on its own and more of a building block — a fund aimed at investors who already own North American stocks and want to round out their portfolio with broader international coverage, without duplicating exposure they already have.
Who manages the funds, and what it signals for BlackRock’s ambitions in Canada
Both IBQT and XINT are managed by BlackRock Asset Management Canada through the RBC iShares alliance, the partnership that has anchored BlackRock’s iShares business in the country. At a global level, BlackRock said its iShares business managed roughly $6.2 trillion across more than 1,700 ETFs as of June 30, giving some sense of scale behind a launch that, on paper, involves a fairly small crypto allocation.
Why does that matter? Because it shows BlackRock treating Bitcoin less as a niche satellite investment and more as a standard ingredient in mainstream portfolio construction. IBQT isn’t pitched as a crypto fund with some stocks attached — it’s pitched as an equity fund with a pre-set, small crypto tilt, aimed at investors who want exposure to Bitcoin’s upside without making an active decision to buy a separate crypto product.
Why the U.S. iShares Bitcoin Trust remains the benchmark
IBQT’s conservative 3% target stands in sharp contrast to the scale BlackRock has built with its U.S.-listed iShares Bitcoin Trust, the largest American spot Bitcoin ETF by assets. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted about $853.5 million over five consecutive sessions from Aug. 3 through Aug. 7, and BlackRock’s IBIT accounted for an estimated $693 million of that — roughly 81% of the total, according to reporting on the fund’s flows. That dominance underlines just how central BlackRock has become to institutional Bitcoin demand in the U.S., even as its Canadian arm takes a far more measured approach.
IBQT’s small, fixed allocation limits how much Bitcoin’s price swings can move the overall portfolio, but it doesn’t eliminate the effect entirely: changes in Bitcoin’s value could still nudge the crypto share above or below 3% between the fund’s rebalancing periods. Investors in IBQT are also exposed, indirectly, to the fees, volatility and market risks tied to the underlying Canadian Bitcoin ETF — a point BlackRock itself flags by noting that ETF values change frequently and are not guaranteed.
This isn’t BlackRock’s first attempt at blending Bitcoin with a traditional strategy. In June, the firm launched a Bitcoin income ETF called BITA in the United States, which invests mainly in the U.S.-listed iShares Bitcoin Trust implements a covered call strategy to produce income distributions on a monthly basis. IBQT employs a different, more passive route: instead of trying to generate yield from Bitcoin’s volatility, it simply caps the asset’s weight and lets equities drive most of the fund’s performance.
Listed separately from BlackRock’s U.S. products, IBQT is nonetheless part of a broader pattern: regulated Bitcoin exposure increasingly showing up inside diversified portfolio funds rather than staying confined to stand-alone crypto vehicles. Whether Canadian investors prefer that packaged, fixed-ratio approach over simply buying equity and Bitcoin funds separately will likely depend on how IBQT performs once it has a real track record — something the fund, just days old, doesn’t yet have.
FAQ
What is the allocation strategy of BlackRock Canada’s IBQT ETF?
IBQT targets a 97% allocation to global equities and a 3% allocation to Bitcoin, giving investors combined exposure through one listed product on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
How does IBQT obtain its Bitcoin exposure?
IBQT obtains its Bitcoin exposure indirectly through BlackRock’s Canadian iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT), which trades on Cboe Canada, rather than holding Bitcoin directly.
What are the management fees for IBQT and the international equity ETF XINT?
IBQT charges an annual management fee of 0.22%, while XINT carries a 0.23% annual management fee.
Who manages these new BlackRock ETFs launched in Canada?
Both IBQT and XINT are managed by BlackRock Asset Management Canada through its partnership with RBC iShares.
Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.
