Canadian investment fund manager 3iQ has listed the preliminary prospectus for its bitcoin fund as the next step toward an initial public offering (IPO), the company said Thursday.

As reported on Oct. 30, the firm received initial approval from the Ontario Securities Commission to launch the fund on either the Toronto Stock Exchange or the TSX Venture Exchange later this year.

A representative told CoinDesk today that the firm expects to list on the Toronto Stock Exchange and begin trading in late December or early January.

3iQ has been in talks with the regulator over the offering for three years, the representative said.

The IPO, being led by Canaccord Genuity Corp., is aimed to provide unit (bundles of stock and warrants) holders with exposure to bitcoin and the daily price movements of the cryptocurrency against the U.S. dollar.

The bitcoin fund is a closed-end investment fund set up as a trust in the province of Ontario. 3iQ will act as the investment and portfolio manager of the fund, while bitcoin in the fund will be custodied by New York-based cryptocurrency exchange Gemini Trust Company LLC.

The firm claims the IPO would be the "world’s first regulated closed-end bitcoin exchange-traded product," however, there have been similar product launches before. Swiss Amun AG has launched several ETPs for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies – including XRP, ether and BNB – in the last year on the SIX stock exchange.