Amid the United States finally launching its first Bitcoin (BTC) futures-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) today, France is inching closer to a major Bitcoin-related ETF launch as well.
Paris-based alternative investment firm Melanion Capital is preparing to launch its Bitcoin-linked ETF product already this Friday, the firm’s CEO Jad Comair announced to Cointelegraph on Oct. 18.
Called “Melanion BTC Equities Universe UCITS ETF,” the Bitcoin ETF will start trading on France’s primary stock exchange, Euronext Paris, at 7 am UTC.
The product will be listed under the ticker symbol BTC FP, providing investors with Bitcoin exposure through a diversified basket of equities correlated to the daily price movements of Bitcoin.
“It is traded on the Paris stock exchange, therefore eligible to all investors, and we’re in the process of listing it all over Europe,” Comair said, adding that there is a strong demand for Bitcoin-related products in the region. “We have embarked on a plan to bring more institutional-grade crypto products to the market,” he added.
According to Comair, the idea of BTC FP is pretty similar to a Bitcoin-linked ETF by Volt Equity, which was approved by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in early October. Instead of tracking Bitcoin directly, both Melanion Capital and Volt Equity’s Bitcoin ETFs are tied to companies correlated with Bitcoin.
“They both share the same idea: structuring a Bitcoin ETF by investing in equities holding Bitcoin, instead of going through the difficult and burdensome route of directly holding Bitcoin,” Melanion Capital CEO noted.
This ETF will track the Melanion Bitcoin Exposure Index, which consists of several industry firms, including Michael Saylor’s software firm MicroStrategy, crypto mining firm Argo Blockchain, Mike Novogratz’s digital asset merchant bank Galaxy Digital and others.
“Our ETF is the first thematic Bitcoin product to be approved in Europe. ETF is a big deal, as it’s the most widely used and the one eligible for various pension plans,” Comair said.
The executive also noted that its ETF would bridge the gap between the crypto and institutional worlds. “The investment pockets of institutional investors have a lot of constraints to protect their customers, and an ETF is one of the most eligible wrappers that matches these constraints,” Comair noted.
Related: Guernsey regulator approves Jacobi Asset Management’s Bitcoin ETF launch
In August, French financial regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers, officially approved Melanion Capital’s Bitcoin-linked ETF.
The news comes amid American ETF provider ProShares preparing to launch its Bitcoin futures-based ETF on the New York Stock Exchange today. According to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas, Valkyrie’s Bitcoin futures-based ETF is likely to launch this week as well.
