Advance Financial Technologies is planning to match each investment in its pending Bitcoin exchange-traded fund with the planting of thousands of trees.

According to a Fri report from Bloomberg, the Calgary-based investment services company has pledged to plant 3,450 trees for every $one million CAD — roughly $792,000 at the time of publication — invested in its Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund, or ETF.

The move is role of Accelerate'due south aim to have its Bitcoin ETF be carbon negative — that is, removing more than carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than the free energy required for Bitcoin mining and transactions would create. The company claims each major investment would result in the offset of 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide.

Accelerate chief investment officer Julian Klymochko pushed dorsum confronting the idea the company'south initiative was analogous to greenwashing, or falsely marketing oneself as environmentally friendly. He said the firm preferred planting trees instead of purchasing carbon credits to characterization the product carbon negative.

Ninepoint Partners LP is planning to offer a green Bitcoin ETF seemingly like to that proposed by Accelerate. In May, the company said it would purchase carbon credits to kickoff the environmental touch on of the crypto in its fund.

Many companies in the crypto and blockchain space — including mining firms — accept appear solutions using green or renewable energy sources given the concerns over the engineering science's potential ecology bear on. In May, Depository financial institution of America analysts said that Bitcoin'southward free energy usage has increased 200% since 2022 and is now comparable to that of a small developed nation. Prominent figures in the infinite including Tesla CEO Elon Musk have also expressed concern near the network's "increasingly rapid use of fossil fuels."

Related: Bitcoin greenwashing? Lawmakers desire clearer definitions of green energy

The investment firm filed the application for its Bitcoin ETF with Canadian securities regulators in Feb. Accelerate plans to list the product on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker ABTC, offer units in both U.S. and Canadian dollars.

While the Securities and Exchange Commission has notwithstanding to corroborate whatsoever crypto ETF in the United States, Canadian regulators have given the dark-green light to many firms applying for Bitcoin and Ether ETFs in 2022, including offerings from investment fund manager 3iQ, Purpose Investments, Evolve Funds Group and CI Global Asset Management.