U.K’s First Bitcoin ETP for Institutions Goes Live on Aquis Exchange

While U.K regulators are currently dealing with several crypto scams popping in the country, this hasn’t stopped crypto players from issuing institutional-grade Bitcoin products in the market. U.K’s first Bitcoin ETF from Swiss-based 21Shares shall go live in London later today, June 7.

This launch from 21Shares comes in partnership with leading market-maker and liquidity provider GHCO. The press release notes that the 21Shares Bitcoin ETP (ABTC) shall be centrally cleared and engineered like an ETF. Exchange-traded products (ETPs) trade on the exchanges just like the public listed stocks.

With this latest launch, U.K-based institutional players can get exposure to Bitcoin through a regulated framework and in a secure and cost-effective manner. Besides, they don’t have to go through the challenges associated with the custody of Bitcoin. Each Bitcoin ETP unit provides exposure to nearly 0.00035 Bitcoin entitlement. Hany Rashwan, CEO of 21Shares said:

“This is the right time to bring our successful crypto ETP to the institutional UK market. Our strong track record and existing institutional reach across continental Europe means that investors can confidently gain exposure to Bitcoin via a liquid and conventional investment product.”

21Shares to Bring More Institutional-grade Crypto Products

21Shares is one of the biggest ETP issuers in the world with more than $1.5 billion in assets under management. The recent launch of the Bitcoin ETP comes after two years of successful testing of crypto ETPs. The Swiss-based group has also institutional-grade crypto ETP products in other European countries like Switzerland, France, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands.

21Shares said that it will work with Aquis Exchange to bring a suite of institutional products and ETPs for other digital assets like Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Tezos, Polkadot (DOT), Cardano (ADA) and Stellar (XLM).

On the other hand, GHCO will serve as the authorized participant for 21Shares Product. This will serve as a liquidity provider for the Bitcoin ETP. This will give institutional investors access to ample liquidity just as the underlying asset. Dan Izzo, CEO of GHCO, said:

“ETPs are a key development for investing in crypto assets as it matures as an asset class. We expect more demand for this reliable, easily-accessible infrastructure with deep pools of liquidity – liquidity that we are happy to facilitate.”