CoinShares Launches New Physically-backed Bitcoin Exchange Traded Product (ETP)

Leading Digital Asset Manager Expands its Product Portfolio with a Bitcoin ETP Built on its New Institutional-Grade Platform

ST. HELIER, Jersey, Jan. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CoinShares, Europe's largest digital asset manager with over $2.9 billion in assets under management*, today announced the launch of a new physically-backed ETP, CoinShares Physical Bitcoin (Ticker: BITC). BITC will be the first product released on CoinShares' new institutional-grade ETP platform and will launch with significant assets under management. Each unit of BITC is backed with 0.001 bitcoin at launch, providing investors with passive exposure to Bitcoin and the convenience of an exchange traded product.

Product Name	ISIN	Ticker	Base Currency
CoinShares Physical Bitcoin (BTC)	GB00BLD4ZL17	BITC	USD

BITC will initially be listed on the regulated SIX Swiss Exchange and has a base fee of 0.98%, well below the industry standard of 2%. The product is launching with over $100mn in AUM, a level that allows BITC to meet institutional and corporate baselines for investment consideration. 

Head of Product, Townsend Lansing commented: "Since 2014 CoinShares has provided an effective bridge between the cryptocurrency ecosystem and traditional finance via our XBT Provider family of ETPs. BITC and its platform represent the next stage of this evolution. As the European market leader for these products, we will continue to develop investment vehicles that eliminate the boundaries prohibiting institutions from actively investing in what we believe to be the future of finance."

CoinShares' full suite of service offerings through its best-in-class industry partnerships allows BITC to provide investors with access to Bitcoin through a secure and transparent regulated instrument, further bridging the gap between institutional investors and digital assets. BITC is physically backed – meaning a dedicated CoinShares entity directly holds the underlying digital assets which are custodied by Komainu. Komainu is the first hybrid institutional-grade digital asset custodian designed specifically for financial service providers and blue-chip corporates. It is a joint venture between Nomura, one of the most trusted global investment banks, Ledger, the leader in digital asset security and CoinShares.