Physically-Backed Bitcoin ETC to Launch in Germany with Regulator Approval

Bitcoin is expected to land on Germany’s Deutsche Börse XETRA stock exchange in the form of a physically-backed ETC in the coming week.

According to German news outlet Handelsblatt, ETC Group will list the Bitcoin Exchange Traded Crypto (BTCE) on Deutsche Börse’s digital trading platform. Users from the UK, Italy, and Austria will also have access to the ETC when it goes live.

Physically Backed Bitcoin ETC Set to Launch

The Bitcoin ETC will launch with the full approval of Germany’s financial regulators and will be backed 100% by physical Bitcoins. Custodial services will be provided by US digital asset firm BitGo, and investors will be eligible to redeem their shares for either Bitcoin or physical cash.

The news comes less than three months after German financial regulators – BaFin – announced it now officially considers cryptocurrencies to be legitimate financial instruments. The Bitcoin ETC will be marketed and distributed via HANetf – a white label ETF issuer, which previously issued Europe’s first medicinal cannabis, and cloud computing ETFs. According to a HANetf press release posted on June 9:

“Investors don’t need to engage with the technical challenges of purchasing and storing Bitcoin… and there is no need to manage cryptographic keys or engage with blockchain technology.”

Mainstream Financial Fold

Each unit of BTCE will be worth 0.001 Bitcoin, minus management fees. According to the HANetf announcement:

“Units of BTCE are safely held with an investor’s securities broker or bank, thus removing the risk of losing the investment because of, for instance, lack of knowledge of how cryptographic keys work.”

Bradley Duke, CEO of ETC Group, said the launch of BTCE will help bring Bitcoin into the arena of mainstream financial markets. Duke said, “BTCE brings the transparency and investor protection that regulators and institutional investors require to the world of Bitcoin. With BTCE, we are transporting Bitcoin into the fold of mainstream, regulated financial markets.”

Duke added, “Investors get the benefits of trading and owning Bitcoin through a regulated security while having the optionality of redeeming Bitcoin if they choose.”