The European instrument is BlackRock’s first foray into crypto-linked ETPs outside of North America
[LONDON] BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is launching a Bitcoin exchanged-traded product in Europe, following the success of its US$48 billion US fund tracking the cryptocurrency.
The iShares Bitcoin ETP will list on Xetra and Euronext Paris under the ticker IB1T and on Euronext Amsterdam under BTCN on Tuesday (Mar 25), the company said in a statement. The product will debut with a temporary fee waiver of 10 basis points – reducing its expense ratio to 0.15 per cent until the end of the year.
The European instrument is BlackRock’s first foray into crypto-linked ETPs outside of North America. Bloomberg News earlier reported BlackRock’s plans.
“It reflects what really could be seen as a tipping point in the industry – the combination of established demand from retail investors with more professionals now really getting into the fold,” Manuela Sperandeo, BlackRock’s head of Europe & Middle East iShares Product, said of the product’s launch in an interview.
BlackRock’s US-listed iShares Bitcoin Trust debuted to great fanfare in January last year, quickly raking in billions of US dollars in assets and recording the best launch for any exchange-traded fund in market history. While ETPs linked to cryptocurrencies have traded on European bourses for years, the market’s US$13.6 billion size pales in comparison to that of the US.
The fee waiver means that at launch, IB1T will be among the cheapest on the market. Europe’s largest crypto ETP, CoinShares International Ltd’s US$1.3 billion physical Bitcoin product, charges 0.25 per cent – the same as BlackRock’s IB1T once the waiver period ends.
Crypto exchange Coinbase Global will custody the physical Bitcoin backing the product, BlackRock said. Open to both institutional and informed retail investors, IB1T will be issued by a special purpose vehicle domiciled in Switzerland. BLOOMBERG
Share with us your feedback on BT’s products and services
