CoinShares, a European digital asset investment firm, announced on Tuesday the launch of a new physically-backed Bitcoin Exchange-Trade Product (ETP), CoinShares Physical Bitcoin (Ticker: BITC). According to CoinShares, BITC will be the first product released on CoinShares’ new institutional-grade ETP platform and will launch with significant assets under management. Each unit of BITC is backed with 0.001 bitcoin at launch, providing investors with passive exposure to Bitcoin and the convenience of an exchange-traded product.
“BITC will initially be listed on the regulated SIX Swiss Exchange and has a base fee of 0.98%, well below the industry standard of 2%. The product is launching with over $100mn in AUM, a level that allows BITC to meet institutional and corporate baselines for investment consideration. “
Speaking about CoinShares Physical Bitcoin, CoinShares Head of Product, Townsend Lansing, stated:
“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.”
CoinShares then shared it has also partnered with Authorised Participants and Market Makers who will support the product line’s liquidity. CoinShares expects immediate demand from existing clients. CoinShares Chief Revenue Officer, Frank Spiteri, added:
“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. We’re looking forward to servicing both new and existing investors with our new CoinShares Physical product line.”