Swiss stock exchange SIX has revealed the listing of a new Bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) from financial firm ETC Group.
Physically backed ETP
According to the press release, the newly released product by ETC called BTCE tracks the price of Bitcoin and is 100% backed by the currency. This means that ETC group owns the underlining Bitcoin that it represents. Each unit of BTCE gives the holder a predefined amount of Bitcoin.
Investors will be able to gain access to the leading currency in a transparent and easy way. The financial product can be bought and sold like any other stock listed on the SIX Swiss exchange. The ETC Group is a firm that specializes in developing innovative digital asset-backed securities and has two London-based regulated brokers.
It was also revealed that BTCE will be marketed and distributed by HANetf, an independent provider of UCITS exchange-traded funds. The addition of BTCE to the Swiss exchange takes the number of ETP providers to six and ETP listed to 34.
The Swiss stock exchange is one of the worlds leading marketplaces for regulated crypto products and processed 1.1 billion CHF ($1.2 billion) worth of transactions in 2020. This is a record surpassing the last figure of 525 million CHF ($595 million) recorded in 2017.
Christine Reus head of markets at SIX Swiss exchanges believes that the addition of BTCE is a great one for the exchange. “With the new product, investors gain access to 100 different crypto products trading on our platform and with this have even more opportunities to diversify their portfolio,”
A major increase in Crypto exchange-traded funds (ETP)
There is a recent craze for crypto exchange-traded funds. These funds correspond to index funds whose units can be sold or bought directly on the stock exchange making it easier for traditional investors to access cryptocurrencies. The recent surge of Bitcoin has led to more institutions purchasing the coin in bulk.
However, the volatile nature and lack of regulation of Bitcoin have seen some investors pull back for the fear of running afoul regulations. ETF is a safer form of investment for these investors since it is sold within a regulated environment.
