The issuer of the world’s first bitcoin exchange-traded notes (ETN), XBT Provider, has announced the launch of the first ethereum ETNs. XBT Provider will launch two exchange-traded notes – Ether Tracker One (COINETH) and Ether Tracker Euro (COINETHE).
Also Read: XBT Provider Fined by Nasdaq
XBT Provider Has Announced the Launch of Two Ethereum ETNs
XBT Provider states that the two ETNs are denominated in SEK and EUR respectively, and that pricing will track the value of ethereum “as determined by an index rate comprising the average of the 3 most liquid of a select group of exchanges, daily”. The ETNs will be traded during normal market hours on Nasdaq Stockholm.
Laurent Kssis, a representative of XBT Provider, has described the launch of the ethereum ETNs as a response to popular demand from traders. “The listing of these two Ether ETNs is a major win for European investors who have been requesting these products for over a year now. As of today, …investors can trade [Ethereum]… via a safe, familiar route in Nasdaq.”
Head of ETP Services Europe at Nasdaq, Helena Wedin, stated that “while it is important to acknowledge that exposure to an asset in its early stage of development, such as a digital currency, comes with a risk, trading Ether on Nasdaq Stockholm provides investors with the protection provided by a regulated infrastructure, well-known marketplace and accessibility through their ordinary brokers.
XBT Provider is a Swedish domiciled company that is owned by Coinshares. The company released the first bitcoin exchange-traded note, Bitcoin Tracker One, which was launched on Nasdaq Stockholm in 2015. XBT’s prospectus has been approved by the Swedish FSA (Finansinspektionen).
XBT Provider Was Recently Fined by Nasdaq for Rule Violations
On September 25, XBT’s board of directors announced that the ownership of all of the issued shares in the capital of the company had been acquired by CoinShares Limited – a company based in Jersey, Channel Islands. Global Advisors Limited, XBT’s previous owners, possesses three-quarters of the shares in the capital of CoinShares.
In July, XBT provider received a fine of SEK 1,000,000 (approximately $121,698 USD) from Nasdaq for multiple rule violations. The company was found to have breached Nasdaq’s “rule book for issuers of warrants and certificates and other regulations in several respects”, according to the Disciplinary Committee of Nasdaq Stockholm.
The violations included failing to publish information for the public as required and failing to have documents referenced in its base prospectus available to view on its website during the entire term of the prospectus. Global Advisors, the then majority shareholder of XBT, accepted the fines, however, argued that only four of twenty-four violations in question had occurred after Global Advisors had purchased the company. Global Advisors became the following a bankruptcy filing by the company’s former guarantor, KnC miners, in 2016.
Do you think that more companies will move to introduce ethereum ETNs? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, XBT Provider
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