First Bitcoin Spot ETF public in Europe

The first Bitcoin Spot ETF is now public in Europe and can be traded on the Dutch exchange Euronext Amsterdam. Provider Jacobi has allowed almost two years to pass since the fund was approved. This is behind the long wait.

First Bitcoin Spot ETF public in Europe

The first Bitcoin Spot ETF in Europe is finally public. Jacobi Asset Management listed the exchange-traded fund on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange, the company said in a press release today .

The product is regulated by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) and is sold under the ticker BCOIN. The BTC acquired by the fund are held by Fidelity Digital Assets .

“Jacobi has listed Europe’s first bitcoin spot ETF on Euronext Amsterdam ,” the company proudly writes. Managing director Martin Bednall is particularly pleased to have forestalled large US companies.

There is still no Bitcoin Spot ETF in the USA. Various companies have been submitting applications for years, all of which have so far been rejected by the SEC supervisory authority. The topic had recently attracted a lot of attention, as BlackRock started a new trend with its own application.

“It’s exciting to see that Europe is ahead of the US in opening Bitcoin investing to institutional investors who want safe access to the benefits of digital assets through familiar and regulated structures like our ETF,” explains Bednall and thus also explains the advantages of the fund.

Institutions that have a lot to lose tend to prefer to rely on tried-and-tested and well-known structures that are also supposed to offer additional security through legal regulations.

In addition, the acquisition of Bitcoin via an ETF can be more convenient if the buyer is not interested in storing the cryptocurrencies independently. The operator of the fund then takes over this task.

Why Jacobi waited two years with BCOIN

Jacobi received approval for the Bitcoin ETF BCOIN in October 2021. Almost two years have passed since then. The company made this decision consciously because the time was considered too bad.

Previously, Jacobi planned to launch BCOIN in 2022. Due to several drastic events in the crypto market, it was finally decided to postpone the launch. After the collapse of Terra in May 2022, serious crashes followed again in the months that followed – such as the insolvency of FTX in November.

Is BCOIN really the first Bitcoin Spot ETF in Europe?

Formally, BCOIN is really the first Bitcoin Spot ETF in Europe. In fact, the product does not differ significantly from similar offers that have existed in Europe for years.

Jacobi may refer to BCOIN as an ETF. In 2019, the 21Shares Bitcoin ETP launched in Switzerland. It offers investors an almost identical offer, but due to legal regulations it cannot be called an ETF, since an ETF always designates a contingent of investments. A single cryptocurrency is not enough for this.

A year later – in 2020 – the BTCetc Bitcoin Exchange Traded Crypto ETN was also launched in Germany.