Bitcoin Capital and Ficas list two bitcoin and ethereum ETPs
Active management of the ETPs is seen as a way to tackle crypto volatility
Ficas and its subsidiary Bitcoin Capital have jointly listed two actively managed digital assets ETPs (exchange-traded products) on Switzerland’s SIX exchange, Europe’s third-largest stock exchange.
The 1 Ficas Active Bitcoin and 1 Ficas Active Ethereum ETPs are available to private and institutional investors in Switzerland, Liechtenstein and throughout the European Union, except in Hungary.
Combating volatility
The two largest cryptocurrencies in the world have enjoyed healthy gains since the start of the year, with bitcoin rising by 75% and ether by 502%. However, the sector’s notorious volatility has continued. Between noon on Friday and Saturday last week, BTC and ETH sank by more than 18% and 14%, respectively. The coins have since risen by 10% and 13%.
Bitcoin Capital chair Dr Luca Schenk said: “Our purpose is to grant investors safe and easy access to digital assets and [we] are convinced that crypto assets will soon be part of the diversification strategy of many investment portfolios.
”The two new products with the most relevant cryptocurrencies as underlying may, through their active management, improve the overall portfolio risk by reducing underlying volatility,” Dr Schenk continued.
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Institutional interest
The Swiss cryptocurrency investment management boutique joins the growing ranks of firms launching digital asset ETPs in order to cater to growing institutional demand.
At the end of November, US investment giant Invesco became the largest asset manager to introduce a bitcoin ETP in Europe.
A month earlier, the New York Stock Exchange introduced its first ever bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), offered by ProShares. The ETF suffered its worst one-day decline on Monday, sinking by more than 8% after the weekend’s sell-off.
By noon (GMT), bitcoin was trading up by 1.7% at $51,422.
