Bitcoin ETF Spot: Is it really the first in Europe? We are not really convinced, and we’ll explain why in detail here.
Bitcoin ETF News
The main newspapers dealing with cryptocurrencies have relaunched in unison the news of the arrival of the first Bitcoin Spot ETF also on the European stock exchanges. However, anyone who really follows the European financial markets and those linked to cryptocurrencies will, we imagine, have been at least intrigued by such bombastic titles, also because there have been many exchange-traded products in Europe on Bitcoin Spot for some time.
And why then do such headlines and such news circulate: the discussion is technically/legally not too linear, but rather easy to understand from another angle. It is a marketing operation – not too articulated – which exploits the imperfect interchangeability between Europe and the EU – and between certain rules that circulate in the financial markets.
No, this won’t be the first Bitcoin ETF Spot in Europe, or rather, there are other identical or almost identical products that work in exactly the same way, which don’t call themselves ETFs for a purely legal issue.
An almost fake news about Bitcoin and its ETFs
The channels from which this news comes are always the same – and they are the ones that periodically, especially in a boring period like last week’s, offer you click bait titles and stories that aren’t really news.
This time the non-news is that the first Bitcoin ETF Spot will be traded in Europe. That is, an ETF with 100% Bitcoin inside and which can also be purchased on the Amsterdam stock exchange and therefore indirectly through all European stock exchanges.
However, those who follow the financial markets more closely among our readers will have realized that there is something about the story that does not add up. Because there are already several exchange traded products on Bitcoin in Europe – and because these are also available on the Milan Stock Exchange. Why then is it called the first Bitcoin Spot ETF?
UCITS (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) actually has something to do with it – which regulates funds of this type at European level, which says that ETFs cannot have more than 20% in a single asset and that they must meet certain diversification objectives.
And therefore, managed products such as the American Gold ETFs, or precisely the ETFs on Bitcoin, must be branded with the abbreviation of ETP, which involves very few variations on the functioning.
The fund that almost everyone is talking about does not follow UCITS regulations and will be incorporated in Guernsey, a small channel island which is a bailiwick and dependency of the British Crown, and which has rather particular financial rules.
So, is it, or isn’t it the first Bitcoin ETF Spot?
Yes, in terms of name. No, in terms of functionality. The fact that the products sold on the European market to date are ETPs changes practically nothing for those who invest in these products. And the arrival of the fund managed by Guernsey does not change this picture.
An advertising ploy by the manager? Probably yes, but at the same time little attention from a crypto journalism which should perhaps be satisfied with fewer clicks and strive to inform its readers more correctly.
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