Amsterdam Welcomes Listing of Europe's Inaugural Bitcoin ETF

The Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) oversees the regulation of the Jacobi FT Wilshere Bitcoin ETF, which will be listed for trading with the ticker symbol "BCOIN."
The European market is set to witness the trading of a Bitcoin ETF ahead of the United States, even though numerous applications have been submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission over the past few years.

London's Jacobi Asset Management has successfully launched Europe's inaugural spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Euronext Amsterdam, a remarkable achievement that comes nearly two years after its initial approval.

The Jacobi FT Wilshere Bitcoin ETF operates under the regulatory oversight of the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) and will be listed with the trading symbol "BCOIN." The fund's custody services are entrusted to Fidelity Digital Assets, while trading activities are facilitated by the market maker Flow Traders, as revealed in Jacobi's announcement on Tuesday.

Jacobi initially gained approval for the fund in October 2021, intending to have it publicly listed in 2022. However, the company decided to postpone its listing due to unfavorable developments in the broader digital asset market. These developments included the downfall of the Terra ecosystem and the insolvency of the crypto exchange FTX.

While Exchange-traded products (ETPs), including Exchange-traded notes (ETNs), are commonly found in Europe, Jacobi introduces the inaugural ETF in this realm.

ETF shareholders possess a stake in the underlying shares of the product, whereas ETN investors hold a debt security. Jacobi has clarified that their ETF is prohibited from utilizing leverage or derivatives, which sets it apart from ETNs.

The European market is set to experience the trading of a spot bitcoin ETF before the United States does. This comes in spite of numerous applications submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the past few years, all of which have been met with rejection.

Yet, there is a revitalized sense of optimism regarding the regulator's potential endorsement of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). This optimism stems from the fact that BlackRock (BLK), a prominent asset management company, spearheaded a series of fresh applications for such ETFs. These applications include "surveillance-sharing" agreements crafted to mitigate the risks of market manipulation.