European digital asset manager CoinShares has launched a directly backed bitcoin exchange-traded product in Switzerland.
CoinShares has listed a directly backed bitcoin ETP on SIX Swiss Exchange.
Listed on SIX Swiss Exchange, the CoinShares Physical Bitcoin ETP (BITC SW) is available to trade in US dollars, pound sterling, euros, and Swiss francs.
The product is aimed at institutional investors.
Each unit of BITC is “physically” backed with 0.001 bitcoin, providing direct exposure to the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap with the added oversight, security, and liquidity of an ETP.
The ETP’s bitcoin holdings are custodied by Komainu, a hybrid institutional-grade digital asset custodian designed specifically for financial service providers and blue-chip corporates.
Komainu is a joint venture between global investment bank Nomura, digital asset security specialist Ledger, and CoinShares.
BITC has launched with over $100 million in assets under management, a level that, according to CoinShares, allows it to meet institutional and corporate baselines for investment consideration.
Frank Spiteri, Chief Revenue Officer at CoinShares, commented: “Over the last 12 months, we have seen a steady increase in interest and demand for digital assets from our institutional clients, and this platform has been built with their feedback in mind. The physically backed structure is familiar to institutions who have extensive experience in trading similar commodity-based investment vehicles.”
Townsend Lansing, Head of Product at CoinShares, added: “Since 2014, CoinShares has provided an effective bridge between the cryptocurrency ecosystem and traditional finance via our XBT Provider family of ETPs. BITC and its platform represent the next stage of this evolution. As the European market leader for these products, we will continue to develop investment vehicles that eliminate the boundaries prohibiting institutions from actively investing in what we believe to be the future of finance.”
Christian Reuss, Head of Markets at SIX Swiss Exchange, said: “Interest in bitcoin continues to grow. As the world’s leading regulated marketplace for products with crypto-currency underlyings, SIX offers investors crucial benefits like transparency, liquidity, and equal treatment.”
The ETP comes with a management fee of 0.98%, making it the second-cheapest bitcoin ETP in Europe after the $170m WisdomTree Bitcoin ETP (BTCW SW) which costs 0.95%. Other SIX-listed bitcoin ETPs include the $210m 21Shares Bitcoin ETP (ABTC SW) and the $420m BTCetc Bitcoin Exchange Traded Crypto (BTCE SW). ABTC and BTCE come with management fees of 1.49% and 2.00% respectively.
CoinShares also offers eight single-asset crypto products providing exposure to bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin, and ripple in either Swedish krona or euro trading lines. The suite is delivered through the firm’s XBT Provider platform, with products listed on Nasdaq Stockholm and the Nordic Growth Market. The paltform houses $3 billion in assets under management. These products use synthetic replication through tracking certificates to gain exposure to cryptocurrency markets.