Switzerland Spot Bitcoin ETF Issuer Named as BIT Asset Management

TLDR

• FINMA approved Switzerland’s first spot Bitcoin ETF for retail investors on Tuesday.
• BIT Asset Management said Thursday that its Bitcoin Fund ETF is expected to start trading on SIX Swiss Exchange in November.
• The fund holds Bitcoin directly and is approved for public offering in Switzerland only.
• It is set up as a Swiss collective investment scheme, with investor assets kept separate from the fund manager.
• FINMA said other providers have also applied, and warned that Bitcoin remains highly volatile.

Switzerland’s first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund for retail investors is expected to begin trading next month. The fund is the first in the country approved to invest only in Bitcoin.

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, known as FINMA, announced the approval on Tuesday. The regulator did not name the issuer at that time.

On Thursday, BIT Asset Management said it was the company behind the product. It said its Bitcoin Fund ETF is expected to begin trading on SIX Swiss Exchange in November.

How the Fund Is Structured

The Bitcoin Fund ETF holds Bitcoin directly. This means the fund owns the actual cryptocurrency instead of tracking its price through other products.

The fund is approved for public offering in Switzerland only. It is not being offered to the public in other countries.

BIT Asset Management said its fund is different from most Bitcoin products sold in Europe. “Most bitcoin products listed in Europe today are exchange-traded products (ETPs), which are debt instruments that carry issuer risk,” the company said.

Issuer risk means investors depend on the financial health of the company that created the product. If that company runs into trouble, investors could be affected.

The new fund is instead a Swiss collective investment scheme. Under this setup, the fund’s assets are held separately from those of the fund management company.

The company said these assets are “ring-fenced” for investors. In other words, they are kept apart and set aside for the people who own shares in the fund.

Regulator Points to Bitcoin’s Trading History

The fund falls under a Swiss category called “other funds for alternative investments” with particular risk. This category covers funds that carry higher levels of risk.

FINMA has allowed funds that invest mainly in a basket of cryptocurrencies since 2021. However, this is the first time it has approved a fund that invests only in Bitcoin.

The regulator said it made the decision based on Bitcoin’s trading history. It also cited Bitcoin’s higher trading volume compared with other cryptocurrencies.

FINMA also issued a warning to investors. It stressed that Bitcoin remains highly volatile, even when people access it through an approved ETF.

The regulator said other fund providers have also submitted applications for Bitcoin ETFs. Those applications have not yet been approved.

For now, BIT Asset Management’s fund is the only spot Bitcoin ETF approved for retail investors in Switzerland. The company expects trading on SIX Swiss Exchange to begin in November.

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