For the first time in BlackRock’s history, BlackRock will offer an crypto investment product available outside of the US on the European market.

The European market, although third largest economy in the world, follows closely the US and China. European consumers and investors are among the richest populations in the world. A juicy market that it would be foolish to shun. BlackRock has understood this. Present for many years on the European continent, BlachRock currently has no investment product directly related to Bitcoin. Recent statements by Larry Fink on Bitcoin have shown some potential developments regarding future investment opportunities in cryptocurrencies. From a technical and legal point of view, it will not be a Bitcoin ETF due to the legislative context on the European continent. Although Europe already has an active market for cryptocurrency-backed ETPs, with more than 160 products in circulation for a total assets under management of $17.3 billion, it remains well below the US market.

But what is an ETP? Here is the definition according to ARYA.

An ETP (Exchange-Traded Product) is a broader category that includes various types of financial products traded on the stock exchange, including ETFs, Exchange-Traded Notes (ETN), and Exchange-Traded Commodities (ETC). Crypto ETPs work in a similar way to ETFs by tracking the performance of underlying assets, but they can offer a more diverse range of investment structures.
For example, a crypto ETN can be issued as unsecured debt, following the performance of a cryptocurrency without holding the asset itself. This may introduce different risks compared to traditional ETFs, including the issuer’s credit risk.

It is highly likely according to Bloomberg that BlackRock’s future Bitcoin ETP will be launched in the course of February and will be based in Switzerland.