Fidelity Investments has launched a physical bitcoin exchange-traded (ETP) product in what it says is the growing demand for digital assets among European investors. The fund is listed on Xetra in Frankfurt and will begin trading on Six in Zurich in a few weeks.
The Fidelity ETP comes three months after Invesco launched its bitcoin ETP following increased interest in cryptocurrency investments among asset managers.
The ETP comes after the UK Financial Conduct Authority granted Fidelity Digital Assets an official registration for its digital trading and asset custody business in late 2021.
Previously, Fidelity Digital Assets was listed as a temporary member on the FCA registry, but has now been moved to the FCA permanent registry.
In December 2021, Fidelity Investments launched a Canadian-based physical bitcoin ETF, which currently has around $30 million in assets.
Bitcoin ETP physical loyalty
Fidelity’s physical Bitcoin ETP will be available to institutional and professional investors in Europe and will be domiciled in Germany. However, Fidelity Digital Assets, which is the US-based digital assets arm of Fidelity Investments, will be the custodian of the ETP.
Fidelity Investments head Nick King said the ETP launch was an important step in the company’s ETP offering and the first to offer digital asset products.
The ETP launched with approximately $6 million in assets and will have an ongoing charge of 0.75%.
Fidelity’s managing director for Europe, Christian Staub, said:
“The underlying distributed ledger technology has the potential to revolutionize the financial system over time and disrupt many parts of the financial world with profound implications for investors.”
Fidelity Digital Assets recently conducted a survey that showed that 70% of institutional investors expected to invest in digital assets soon. Additionally, over 90% of those surveyed said they want digital assets that have an allocation within the next five years.
