21Shares, formerly known as Amun AG has launched a new Bitcoin Exchange Traded Product (ETP) on the German stock exchange Deutsche Börse’s Xetra electronic platform.
According to a Wednesday release, the company will officially list the new ETP on Thursday, June 2nd. The latest product will be an addition to its already trading ETPs based on various virtual assets such as Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Ripple. According to the announcement, 21Shares has been in the German market since the start of 2020 when it dual-listed all seven of its ETPs on the Börse Stuttgart platform. The listings are also trading on the popular Swiss trading platform SIX.
“Our products have been available in Germany since we set foot at the beginning of the year thanks to all our German partners that made it possible,” 21Shares Managing Director, Laurent Kssis said in a statement. “The listing on Xetra not only strengthens our current position in Germany but also opens up institutional-grade crypto products to the wider European and international markets. We look forward to bringing more novel asset classes to more demanding investors. Crypto is now ever more easy to access”
ETPs are derivatives products traded on regulated platforms tracking the value of (mostly) unregulated assets such as, in this case, Bitcoin. The newly launched Bitcoin ETP by 21Shares will allow institutional traders to speculate on the value of Bitcoin without having to directly buy and sell the underlying asset.
Additionally, they will be trading the ETP on a familiar platform. In the US, the financial regulators have been reluctant to allow any such products to be launched on the US markets. This means that despite the increasing number of these products in other markets such as the EU, unfortunately, US investors will have to wait for regulators to get on board.
Michael Lie, the Head of Digital Assets at Flow Traders commented on the increasing popularity of ETPs in the EU saying that this indicates the growing interest of such products from investors and traders alike.
“Flow Traders has been working with 21Shares since November 2018 and views the increasing amount of crypto ETPs being listed in Europe as an extremely positive development for the market,” he said. “As such, it was a natural decision for us to participate as the Designated Sponsor on one of Europe’s largest exchanges. We are delighted to continue this effort and support 21Shares.”
