The new, physically-backed ETP will commence trading today.

European digital asset manager Coinshares is launching a new ETP product, the physically backed CoinShares Physical Bitcoin (Ticker: BITC) on the SIX Swiss Exchange today.

The ETP enables investors to gain exposure to the price of bitcoin on a regulated European stock exchange. (CISION PR Newswire)

Institutions: Confidence of physical backing and $200M AUM

Komainu, a regulated institutional-grade digital asset custodian holds the bitcoins on behalf of BITC.

Komainu is a custodial service for digital assets aimed at institutions. It is a joint venture between Japan’s biggest brokerage and investment bank, Nomura, blockchain security firm Ledger, and CoinShares.

Each unit of BITC is backed with 0.001 bitcoin at launch. Investors, therefore, get exposure to bitcoin without the risks of having to hold it themselves, as well as traceability on an exchange.

BITC already enjoys $200 million in AUM as of launch.

BITC provides investors “with access to bitcoin through a secure and transparent regulated instrument, further bridging the gap between institutional investors and digital assets,” Coinshares said in a statement.

The ETP has an expense ratio of 0.98%.

Coinshares’ backing

For additional confidence, Coinshares is Europe’s largest digital asset manager with more than $2.9 billion in assets under management.

“Since 2014 CoinShares has provided an effective bridge between the cryptocurrency ecosystem and traditional finance via our XBT Provider family of ETPs,” said Coinshares Head of Product, Townsend Lansing. “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,” he added.

Chief Revenue Officer, Frank Spiteri said: “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 that have extensive experience in trading similar commodity-based investment vehicles.”

Additionally, Spiteri told Bloomberg that Coinshares wanted to bring to market a “best-in-class” product that would meet institutions’ strong due diligence processes.

SIX Swiss Exchange

Coinshares is the second ETP issuer to join the SIX Swiss Exchange in 2021.

Last Wednesday, the ETC Group listed its highly successful BTCetc Bitcoin ETP (Ticker: BTCE) on SIX.

Investors can now choose from 22 Bitcoin ETPs and structured products on the exchange. Meanwhile, the number of ETP issuers has risen to seven.

There is evidence of rising interest and volume in crypto trading on SIX. The exchange has reported a crypto products trading volume of CHF 381 million in the first two weeks of 2021. That’s more than during any full month since crypto products commenced trading on SIX in 2016.

Related Story:  The Highly Successful BTCetc Bitcoin ETP Lists On SIX Switzerland