Crypto ETFs in Canada: Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP and Staking

Canada's crypto ETF shelf is a lot bigger than Bitcoin now. Alongside the original Bitcoin funds you'll find Ether, Solana and XRP ETFs, funds that stake their coins to earn rewards, multi-crypto baskets, and covered-call "yield" versions. This page maps the whole landscape — what each type does, what it costs, and where the catches are. Fee and fund data are as of October 2026; fees change, so confirm on the fund's own page before you buy.

1. The Landscape: Canada Got Here First

Canada approved the world's first spot Bitcoin ETF in 2021 — years before the United States allowed them — and has kept approving firsts ever since, including the first staking ETFs anywhere. A spot crypto ETF is simple in concept: the fund buys and holds the actual coin, and you buy units of the fund on a stock exchange. The coins sit with a custodian in cold storage (offline wallets); you own fund units, not the coins themselves.

The practical payoff for Canadians is that these are ordinary TSX- and Cboe Canada-listed securities. They can be held in a TFSA or RRSP (we explain the rules and the traps in our crypto ETFs in a TFSA guide), there's no wallet to manage, and there's no exchange account standing between you and your money. The price you pay for that convenience is the fund's fee — which is why fees get so much attention on this page.

2. Bitcoin: Where It Started

Bitcoin still dominates the category, and because every Bitcoin ETF holds the same asset, the choice comes down almost entirely to fees and the size of the fund. The short version:

3. Ether: The Second Coin

Ether (the token of the Ethereum network) was the second crypto to get the spot ETF treatment in Canada, and the lineup mirrors Bitcoin's: the same issuers, the same cold-storage structure, and a fee spread worth paying attention to.

• ETHH (Purpose) — Purpose's spot ether fund, the ether sibling of BTCC.
• ETHX (CI Galaxy) — CI Galaxy's ether fund, from the same CI/Galaxy partnership as BTCX.
• ETHR (Evolve) — Evolve's spot ether ETF, with a 0.75% management fee.

Ether also has something Bitcoin can't offer: staking. Because Ethereum is a proof-of-stake network, ether can be locked up to help run the network and earn rewards — and two Canadian issuers sell ETFs built around exactly that. That's Section 5, and it comes with a fee warning.

4. Solana and XRP: The 2025 Arrivals

In 2025 the shelf widened beyond the two big coins:

• SOLQ (3iQ Solana Staking ETF) — launched April 2025 on the TSX and grew past C$300 million in assets. It holds Solana and stakes a portion of it, so it belongs to the staking family in Section 5 as much as it does here.
• XRPP (Purpose XRP ETF) — launched June 18, 2025 on the TSX. Its management fee is 0.69% (after an introductory 0% promotional period that ended in February 2026), and its MER is capped at 0.89%.
• XRPQ (3iQ XRP ETF) — launched the same day as XRPP and passed C$150 million in assets.
• XRP (Evolve XRP ETF) — also launched June 18, 2025 on the TSX, with a 0.75% management fee. Yes, the ticker is just the coin's name — double-check it when you place an order.

A word of proportion: Solana and XRP are smaller, thinner markets than Bitcoin, and their prices have historically swung even harder. Newer ETFs on smaller coins can also trade with wider bid-ask spreads. None of that makes them off-limits — it makes position sizing the main decision, not the ticker.

5. Staking ETFs: Canada's Specialty

Staking ETFs hold a proof-of-stake coin (ether or Solana) and stake part of it — locking it up with network validators to earn rewards, which accrue inside the fund and build into its net asset value. Canada was the first country to allow them. The main names:

• ETHQ / ETHQ.U (3iQ Ether Staking ETF, TSX) — staking a portion of its ether since October 19, 2023. Rewards accrue to NAV rather than being paid out; distributions are "annually, if any." Its MER is 2.19% — several times what the plain ether ETFs charge.
• ETHC.B (Purpose Ether Staking Corp. ETF, Cboe Canada) — Purpose's staking entry. Rewards, net of the manager's staking arrangements, accrue to the fund. Note that Purpose does not promise a specific staking yield, and neither do we — treat any yield figure you see in marketing as a variable, not a rate.
• SOLQ (3iQ, TSX) — the same idea applied to Solana, staking a portion of its SOL.

Now the honest math. Staking rewards sound like free yield, but run the numbers on a $10,000 ether position (illustrative figures — staking rates vary, and each fund stakes only a portion of its coins):

• A plain ether ETF like ETHR charges a 0.75% management fee — roughly $75 a year of fee drag on $10,000.
• ETHQ charges a 2.19% MER — roughly $219 a year. That's about $144 a year more than the plain fund.
• For staking to cover that gap, the rewards have to add more than ~1.4% a year to the fund's NAV. If half the fund's ether is staked at an illustrative 3% reward rate, that's about 1.5% added before the costs of the staking arrangements themselves — roughly a wash in a good year, and behind in a leaner one.

Staking ETFs aren't a scam — they're a specialty tool, and inside a TFSA the rewards are sheltered with nothing to file. But "it earns staking rewards" is not the same as "it pays you more." Compare the MER against the realistic staking contribution before assuming the staking version wins.

6. Multi-Crypto Baskets: One Ticker, Several Coins

If you'd rather not pick coins, two funds hold a basket:

• ETC (Evolve Cryptocurrencies) — a basket of Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and XRP in a single ticker, rebalanced by the manager. One trade gets you the broad market of large Canadian-listed coins.
• DXMC (Dynamic Active Multi-Crypto) — an actively managed multi-crypto fund on Cboe Canada, launched in March 2026 by Dynamic in partnership with 3iQ. Its fee is 0.25% until March 1, 2027, then 0.45% — note the end date on that introductory price before you anchor on it.

Baskets trade convenience for control: you can't weight one coin over another, and the manager's mix is the mix you get. For a small "set it and leave it" crypto allocation, that's often exactly the point.

7. Yield and Covered-Call Variants: Read the Label Twice

Purpose also sells yield versions of its crypto funds — BTCY and ETHY — which generate cash distributions using strategies like lending and covered-call writing (ETHY's management fee is 1.1%). They pay regular distributions, which is why people buy them. Just be clear on what a distribution is: it's a mix of option premiums, any income earned, and potentially your own capital coming back to you — it is not interest, and a high distribution rate alongside a flat or falling unit price means the fund is paying you with one hand while the value slips in the other. If your goal is long-term crypto exposure, the plain spot funds in Sections 2–4 are the straightforward tool; the yield versions are an income strategy with different trade-offs.

8. How to Choose

• Pick the coin exposure first, the fund second. Bitcoin, ether, the smaller coins and baskets behave very differently; the issuer choice matters less than that decision.
• Then compare fees on the fund's own ETF Facts. Funds holding the same coin are near-identical products — a 1% fee gap compounds against you every year. Fees quoted here are as of October 2026 and do change.
• Treat staking as a math question, not a feature. Section 5's comparison is the test: if the MER premium eats the staking contribution, the plain fund wins.
• Decide the account before you buy. All of these ETFs are TFSA- and RRSP-eligible, and the TFSA is usually the natural home for a long-term position — but read the loss rules first in our crypto ETFs in a TFSA guide.
• Buy through any self-directed brokerage — these are ordinary listed ETFs. Our brokerage comparison covers the commission-free options.

And the standing caution for this whole category: crypto is volatile enough to fall 50% or more and stay down for a long while. Any of these funds can do the same, because the funds are the coins, minus fees. Size accordingly.

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