CI Global Asset Management to Launch World’s First Ethereum ETF on April 20 with World’s Lowest Management Fee of 0.40%

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TORONTO (April 16, 2021) – CI Global Asset Management (“CI GAM”) announced today that Canadian securities regulators have issued a receipt for the final prospectus of the CI Galaxy Ethereum ETF (“ETHX” or the “ETF”), the world’s first Ether ETF with the lowest management fee of any Ether ETF globally at 0.40%. ETHX is expected to start trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”) on April 20, 2021, subject to TSX approval.

The ETF invests directly in Ether, the cryptocurrency built on the Ethereum blockchain, and its low management fee of 0.40% matches the management fee of the CI Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (TSX: BTCX). ETHX.B will trade in Canadian dollars (unhedged) and ETHX.U will trade in U.S. dollars.

“We’re excited to offer investors the ability to invest directly in Ether, the second-largest digital asset by market capitalization, and to benefit from the growth of the Ethereum blockchain and the many applications this platform supports,” said Kurt MacAlpine, Chief Executive Officer of CI Financial, the parent company of CI GAM. “ETHX is CI’s latest step in building an industry-leading suite of cryptocurrency mandates that allow investors to gain exposure to this exciting, growing asset class through an accessible and secure structure at a very reasonable cost.”

CI Galaxy Ethereum ETF is designed to provide investors with a convenient and expedient way to gain exposure to Ether through an institutional-quality fund platform. ETHX will invest directly in Ether with its holdings priced using the Bloomberg Galaxy Ethereum Index (“ETH Index”), which is designed to measure the performance of a single Ether traded in U.S. dollars. The ETH Index is owned and administered by Bloomberg Index Services Ltd.

CI GAM is the manager of the ETF and Galaxy Digital Asset Management (“GDAM”) serves as the sub-advisor. As sub-advisor, GDAM executes Ether trading on behalf of the ETF. GDAM is the Asset Management arm of Galaxy Digital, a diversified financial services firm dedicated to the digital asset and blockchain technology sector. The GDAM team has deep institutional experience managing third-party capital across traditional and alternative asset classes, strong relationships with institutional service providers and counterparties, and exceptional connectivity throughout the blockchain and digital assets ecosystem.

“We are thrilled to continue building our advisory relationship with CI,” said Steve Kurz, Partner and Head of Asset Management at Galaxy Digital. “The CI Galaxy Ethereum ETF gives investors a simplified path to benefit from the explosion of decentralized applications being built on Ethereum.”

CI GAM’s lineup of cryptocurrency mandates includes: the CI Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (TSX: BTCX), launched in March 2021 with the lowest management fee of any bitcoin ETF in the world at 0.40%; CI Bitcoin Fund, North America’s first bitcoin mutual fund, also with a low management fee of 0.40% for Series F; and CI Galaxy Bitcoin Fund (TSX: BTCG), a closed-end fund launched in December 2020. (CI GAM intends to merge BTCG into BTCX in May 2021, pending approvals.) CI GAM has also filed and obtained a receipt for the preliminary prospectus of CI Ethereum Fund, a mutual fund with the same investment objective as ETHX. CI GAM’s initiatives in this sector support its strategic priority of modernizing its asset management business.

Key benefits of ETHX will include:

• Industry-leading management fee of 0.40%
• Convenient way to gain exposure to Ether
• Diversification potential, due to the historically low correlation of Ether to most major equity and fixed-income asset classes, currencies and commodities
• Secure storage of Ether in a segregated cold storage system, protected in accordance with industry-leading protocol
• Leveraging the experience of GDAM's veteran portfolio management team to execute the purchase and sale of Ether
• Ability to conveniently trade units correspondent to real-time changes in value
• Can be held in registered plans such as registered retirement savings plans and tax-free savings accounts.

About Galaxy Digital

Galaxy Digital Capital Management LP is an affiliate of Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd. (TSX: GLXY) (“Galaxy Digital”). Galaxy Digital is a diversified financial services and investment management company in the digital asset, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology sector, and currently operates four distinct business lines, which include: Trading, Asset Management, Principal Investments and Investment Banking. Galaxy Digital’s CEO and Founder is Michael Novogratz. Galaxy Digital is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Chicago, San Francisco, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands (registered office) and New Jersey. Additional information about Galaxy Digital’s businesses and products is available on www.galaxydigital.io.

About CI Global Asset Management

CI Global Asset Management is one of Canada’s largest investment management companies. It offers a wide range of investment products and services and is on the Web at www.ci.com. CI GAM is a subsidiary of CI Financial Corp. (TSX: CIX, NYSE: CIXX), an independent company offering global asset management and wealth management advisory services with approximately C$240.6 billion in total assets as at March 31, 2021.

CI Galaxy Ethereum ETF (the “ETF”) is an exchange-traded mutual fund that invests in the digital currency Ether (“ETH”). An investment in the ETF may be considered speculative and is not intended as a complete investment program. It is appropriate only for investors who have the capacity to absorb a loss of some or all of their investment. An investment in the ETF is considered high risk.