First Bitcoin ETP in UK to be launched in Aquis Exchange
The ETC Group, a specialist in providing asset-backed securities, has announced that its ETP, BTCE Bitcoin product, would be available for trading as of 7 June via the Aquis Exchange.
This is the first ETP product to be available in the UK or any part of Europe and the trading will be in GBP, EUR, CHF, and USD as well with the focus purely on the European traders as of now.
Many major investors are looking to enter into Bitcoin via the ETP method as they believe that it is the easy and more regulated way to enter into the BTC market and this product is likely to be in good demand among them. This also shows that the regulators are now looking into ETPs more seriously and more such products are likely to get approved in the future. This ETP may literally open the floodgates for more such crypto-based ETPs in the future.
Bradley Duke, CEO of ETC Group said: “We have seen many investors recognise the benefits of including secure crypto ETPs like BTCE in their portfolios as an effective hedge against inflation. ETC Group provides exposure to bitcoin, ether, and litecoin through our 100% physically backed cryptocurrency ETPs, and bringing our flagship bitcoin product to Aquis Exchange was a logical step as institutional demand for exposure to crypto grows around the world.”
The BTCE product will be available for professional investors only for now. The Aquis exchange is one of the largest exchanges in Europe in terms of trading volume with over 1700 instruments and its innovative technology ensures high liquidity even for very large market participants, which is one of the reasons why the ETC group chose to introduce their ETP product in this exchange.
Alasdair Haynes, CEO of Aquis Exchange commented: “Investors are increasingly accepting digital assets as a bona fide asset class and giving them a place in balanced investment portfolios. Aquis has a history of innovation and is responding to client demand for these assets in an agile way allowing traders to access them in a liquid, regulated environment.”
The BTCE product has already been a big hit among investors when it was listed at the XETRA platform of Deutsche Bourse and Swiss SIX exchange and it has been the top bitcoin ETP performer in 2021 which not only shows the continued institutional interest in bitcoin but also shows the potential that is there for other related crypto ETP products.
