Europe’s first Bitcoin (BTC) spot fund (ETF) is set to go live later this year after a long delay. A Bitcoin ETF from Jacobi Asset Management – a London-based multi-asset investment platform – is set to debut on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange in July 2022.
However, the unprecedented market conditions caused by the crash of the Terra ecosystem in May 2022, as well as the collapse of FTX in November, forced the asset manager to postpone the listing. The Jacobi Bitcoin ETF has been approved by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) to launch a Bitcoin ETF in October 2021.
Asset manager Tell The Financial Times reports that it decided to launch the ETF now because it has seen a gradual shift in demand compared to 2022. The asset manager told Cointelegraph that he is still evaluating the launch and will share a date soon.
The Jacobi Bitcoin ETF is a centralized cryptocurrency-backed financial instrument with custody backed by Fidelity Digital Assets, a significant departure from the usual exchange-traded notes (ETNs). In Europe, all traditional cryptocurrency-backed financial instruments are regulated as ETN funds, not as money.
The main difference between an ETN and an ETF is that an ETF shareholder owns a portion of the underlying assets of the fund, whereas an ETN investor owns a debt security. ETFs, unlike ETFs, cannot be leveraged or derivatives used, which would otherwise risk market manipulation.
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While Europe approved the first Bitcoin spot ETF in October 2021, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rejected all Bitcoin ETFs to date. However, in 2023 alone, nearly half a dozen institutional giants, including the likes of BlackRock and Fidelity, have filed for new Bitcoin ETFs in hopes of becoming the first US-approved BTC ETF. The SEC had already approved a pair of Bitcoin ETFs in 2021.
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