Bloomberg Crypto ETF to Launch in 2023 After Year-Long Delay

The Jacobi Bitcoin ETF

Europe’s first Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) is set to launch in the near future, after a period of delay due to market conditions. Jacobi Asset Management — a London-based multi-asset investment platform — was originally scheduled to list the ETF on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange in July 2022.

However, the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May 2022, as well as the FTX collapse in November, forced the asset manager to postpone the listing. The Jacobi Bitcoin ETF was granted approval by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) in October 2021.

The asset manager told the Financial Times that it has seen a gradual shift in demand for the ETF, prompting them to launch it now. Cointelegraph reported that the asset manager is still assessing the launch and will announce a date soon.

The Jacobi Bitcoin ETF is a centrally cleared crypto-backed financial instrument with custody provided by Fidelity Digital Assets, as opposed to the more common exchange-traded notes (ETNs). In Europe, all crypto-backed traditional financial instruments are structured as ETNs, rather than funds.

Crypto in Europe and US

The main contrast between an ETN and an ETF is that the ETF shareholder possesses a share of the fund’s underlying assets, whereas ETN investors own debt security. ETFs, unlike ETNs, are not able to be leveraged or use derivatives, which could otherwise lead to market manipulation risks.

In October 2021, Europe authorized its first spot Bitcoin ETF, however, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rejected all spot Bitcoin ETFs till date. But in 2023, some of the biggest institutional players, such as BlackRock and Fidelity, have filed fresh spot Bitcoin ETF applications in the hope of becoming the first U.S accepted spot BTC ETF. The SEC had already approved a handful of futures Bitcoin ETFs in 2021.

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