ETC Group will list the world’s first centrally cleared bitcoin ETC, the BTCetc Bitcoin Exchange Traded Crypto – (BTCE) – on Deutsche Börse’s XETRA platform in late June. The exchange traded cryptocurrency (ETC) tracks the price of bitcoin and is 100% physically backed, providing investors with a safe and transparent way to gain exposure to bitcoin. It’s the first cryptocurrency product to launch on XETRA, the inaugural Exchange Traded Product (ETP) from ETC Group and the first cryptocurrency ETC to be available on HANetf’s white label ETP platform.
Traded on regulated markets, investors can buy and sell the ETC in the same way they would when trading conventional shares or ETPs, with the identical regulatory protections in place. CCP clearing is a feature that investors expect when trading on a regulated exchange and BTCE brings this standard to bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading for the first time. Clearing through a CCP greatly reduces the counterparty risk when trading BTCE.
Approved by BaFin, the German financial regulator, BTCE is structured as an ETC that is physically backed by bitcoin. Each unit of BTCE gives the holder a claim on a predefined amount of bitcoin – a structure very similar to physically-backed gold exchange traded commodities, and allows investors the option for redemption in bitcoin. For every unit of BTCE, there is bitcoin stored in regulated, institutional-grade safe custody. The entire ETC structure is based on a transparent and verifiable process to ensure that the provenance of all bitcoin in custody has been strictly vetted.