The sixth-largest stock exchange in the world has officially begun trading Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded notes (ETNs). According to the London Stock Exchange (LSE), today marks the launch of ETH and BTC ETN trading. “We are pleased to announce the launch of Crypto ETNs on the London Stock Exchange, effective 28 May 2024, […]
The post UK’s First Spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETPs Begin Trading on the London Stock Exchange appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
Deutsche Börse, the largest stock exchange in Germany, says it will accelerate the development of its blockchain-backed D7 digital securities registry and build a trading platform for digital assets.
Deutsche Börse AG, the German stock exchange headquartered in Frankfurt, has included crypto in its strategic priorities for the next few years.
According to the strategic report “Horizont 2026”, published on Nov. 7, Deutsche Börse seeks “an expansion of the leading position in the area of digital platforms for existing and new asset classes.”
The company believes that, in the long run, there is “further growth potential from new technologies through the digitalization of existing or new asset classes.” Hence, it intends to accelerate the development of its blockchain-backed D7 digital securities registry and build a trading platform for digital assets.
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The digital asset platform will serve only institutional investors and facilitate tokenization, trading, settlement and custody services for securities, alternative assets and cryptocurrencies. The presentation also mentions stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), although their status on the potential platform is not specified.
Deutsche Börse won’t be the first stock exchange to delve into digital assets trading. Germany’s second-largest stock exchange, Boerse Stuttgart, started offering its customers cryptocurrency trading in April 2022. London Stock Exchange Group is set to provide clearing services for dollar-denominated, cash-settled Bitcoin index futures and options contracts in 2024.
The Frankfurt stock exchange is in no way a novice to crypto. In 2021, its digital exchange, Deutsche Börse Xetra, listed the Litecoin exchange-traded product (ETP) from a London-based ETC Group.
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In a LinkedIn job posting the London Stock Exchange Group says it's seeking a digital assets lead with a “passion” for digital assets, crypto and blockchain.
The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), the parent company of the London Stock Exchange and other fintech companies, has posted on LinkedIn that it's seeking a director of digital assets.
LSEG says it is looking for candidates who have a “passion for and understanding of digital assets, cryptocurrencies and distributed ledger technology,” among other skills and requirements.
According to the posting the future digital asset manager for LSEG will be helping the company outline and deploy a commercial strategy for “a suite of new infrastructure solutions and capabilities, as well as developing LSEG’s brand and ecosystem in digital private markets.”
A representative from LSEG told Cointelegraph that it could not provide any further details on the development at the time.
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This latest development after the London Stock Exchange announced that it will create a traditional assets trading platform using blockchain technology. On Sept. 4, the legacy financial institution said it plans to use the technology to enhance the efficiency of holding, buying and selling traditional assets.
However, Murray Roos, the LSE Group’s head of capital markets, said at the time that it would not be building anything around cryptocurrencies.
The United Kingdom has been cracking down on its local crypto scene after passing a bill allowing authorities to seize Bitcoin (BTC) used for crime and announced plans for upcoming stablecoin regulations in October.
In September, the U.K. financial watchdog gave crypto companies a marketing compliance warning and a deadline to align with its standards by January 2024.
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Stocks across the Asia Pacific region marked a second consecutive day of bullish growth as the European stock market reached a three-week high.
Stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe saw gains on Thursday. This uptick was attributed to the United Kingdom’s economic recovery, China’s recent stimulus measures and expectations surrounding the United States Consumer Price Index.
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong led a positive movement in the Asian markets. The Oct. 12 rise came after reports that China’s sovereign wealth fund increased its investment in some of the country’s major banks.
In Europe, the stock market rally was bolstered by data from the United Kingdom, with reports showing economic growth in August, although some sectors still lagged.
China’s sovereign wealth fund announced an increase in its holdings in the country’s four largest banks on Thursday, Oct. 12. The news helped shares of all three main lenders in the country go up during Shanghai’s trading hours. Bank of China stock increased by 3.2%, the China Construction Bank saw an increase of 2.7%, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China registered a 2.5% gain, and the Agricultural Bank of China jumped 0.6%.
China’s stimulus decisions also helped Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rise by 1.9% to 18,257 points for the day, marking the sixth consecutive day of gains for the benchmark index — its longest winning streak since November 2021.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index recorded another 1.8% gain on Thursday to reach 32,494.66 points, marking its second consecutive day of gains
The British economy rose 0.2% in gross domestic product terms in August compared to the previous month, exceeding estimates of less than 0.1%. This GDP growth helped reverse a slide in the economy that began in July with a 0.5% contraction.
The bullish economic growth for the U.K. helped European stock markets rise to a new three-week-high. The benchmark London stock FTSE 100 Index rose 0.8%, the French CAC 40 was up 0.6% and the pan-European Stoxx 600 traded 0.8% higher on Thursday.
Vintage Markets is dedicated to the in-depth exploration and reporting of traditional financial news, tracing the journey of global markets and economies from the Stone Age to the Stoned Age.
The LSE Group has been exploring how blockchain can improve traditional asset trading, according to an executive.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) Group is reportedly planning on creating a blockchain-based platform that will be offering traditional financial assets.
According to a report by mainstream media outlet Financial Times, the company has been looking into the potential of a blockchain-based trading venue for a year. LSE Group's head of capital markets Murray Roos said that the company's efforts in looking into the blockchain had reached a point where they decided to move their plans forward.
London Stock Exchange Group looks to build blockchain-powered trading venue: Financial Times#LSE #London #Crypto #Bitcoin #BTC #ETH #AI #Binance #cryptocurrency pic.twitter.com/1ptwaPPlJx
— The Bitcoin Shark (@thebtcshark) September 4, 2023
Roos also clarified that they will not be building anything around cryptocurrencies. However, they will be using blockchain technology to enhance the efficiency of holding, buying and selling traditional assets.
According to Roos, their idea is to use digital technology to create a process that is "slicker, smoother, cheaper and more transparent” for traditional assets. The LSE Group executive also added that they will have it regulated.
Roos also mentioned that the LSE Group waited until investors were ready and the public blockchain technology was good enough before proceeding with the project. If the plan comes into fruition, Roos claimed that the LSE Group would be the first major global stock exchange that will be offering an end-to-end blockchain-powered ecosystem to investors.
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Meanwhile, other traditional financial infrastructures have started to warm up to the idea of integrating blockchain technology into their business. On Aug. 31, the bank messaging network SWIFT shared a report on how it can connect with blockchains to solve the problem of interoperability between various blockchain networks.
Apart from financial infrastructures, an airline carrier has also started to integrate blockchain-based technologies. On Aug. 31, Lufthansa Airlines launched a nonfungible token (NFT) loyalty program on the Polygon network. NFT holders will have the chance to gain rewards such as lounge access and flight upgrades.
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The Jacobi Bitcoin ETF is finally going live on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange, more than a year after its planned launch.
The London-based digital asset management firm announced that its new investment product was going live on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange on Aug. 15, more than a year later than its planned launch in 2022.
As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the offering was touted as the first spot or physical-backed Bitcoin fund which would allow investors to gain exposure to a financial product that is physically backed by BTC.
The new ETF is set to trade under the BCOIN ticker, while the product was approved by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission back in October 2021. As reported by Blockworks, Fidelity Digital Assets will handle the custodial elements of the BCOIN ETF.
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The asset management firm also highlighted the environment and socially friendly nature of the fund, having added a renewable energy certificate (REC) to the ETF.
The fund taps into external data to measure the energy usage of the Bitcoin network, and buys and retires the RECs. The RECs are also accounted for on a blockchain service, which is aimed to allow investors to verify the eco-friendly claims of the fund.
BCOIN makes use of the FT Wilshire Bitcoin Blended Price Index to access real-time average Bitcoin price data from certain cryptocurrency exchanges. The spot ETF allows investors to gain exposure to the Bitcoin market without having direct ownership or custody of the underlying asset.
The launch of the spot Bitcoin ETF marks a milestone for Europe, while United States regulators are yet to permit approval of a number of similar spot Bitcoin ETF applications from major asset managers including BlackRock and Fidelity.
A statement from Jacobi CEO Martin Bednall highlighted the continent’s progressive attitude towards cryptocurrency investment products as a potential catalyst for further adoption:
“It is exciting to see Europe moving ahead of the US in opening up Bitcoin investing for institutional investors who want safe, secure access to the benefits of digital assets using familiar and regulated structures like our ETF.”
The launch of Jacoby Bitcoin ETF follows the debut of a Bitcoin Equities ETF on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange by Melanion Capital in June 2023. The ETF is designed to track the Melanion Bitcoin Exposure Index, which is a custom basket of European and American stocks closely tied to BTC’s market price.
This differs from the spot ETF, in that investors gain exposure to the fund which is comprised of stocks from companies with significant investments in Bitcoin holdings, cryptocurrency exchanges and mining operations.
This includes the likes of technology firm MicroStrategy, which holds over 140,000 BTC, as well as major Bitcoin mining companies like Riot, Marathon Digital and Hut8.
Europe will welcome a first ever spot Bitcoin exchange traded fund after the long-awaited launch of Jacobi Asset Management’s Jacobi FT Wilshire Bitcoin ETF.
Israel’s only public stock exchange is preparing to offer new regulated cryptocurrency services through another partnership with Fireblocks.
Israel is set to introduce more regulated cryptocurrency opportunities, with the country’s only public stock exchange preparing to offer new crypto services.
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) has signed an agreement with the digital asset platform Fireblocks to jointly offer a range of new digital asset products and services.
Announcing the news on Aug. 1, TASE noted that the new partnership will enable the stock exchange to provide institutional-grade digital asset solutions for regulated entities.
The collaboration is designed to combine TASE's experience and presence in the Israeli market with Fireblocks' technology focused on moving, storing, and issuing digital assets.
According to TASE clearing executive Orly Grinfeld, the new partnership between TASE and Fireblocks is a “monumental leap forward in the global digital assets landscape.”
“We are unwavering in our pursuit of revolutionizing the industry and the local capital market, and this collaboration epitomizes our dedication to delivering secure, regulated, and innovative digital asset solutions,” Grinfeld said.
Fireblocks co-founder and CEO Michael Shaulov mentioned that the firm’s latest collaboration with TASE builds upon the success of Project Eden, an initiative dedicated to the application of blockchain infrastructure in the issuance and settlement of digital government bonds. Fireblocks and the crypto firm Blockfold participated in the proof-of-concept phase of the project completed by early June 2023.
“With Project Eden, our work with TASE has been one of the most exciting and ground-breaking digital asset use cases to date,” Shaulov said, adding:
“The digital asset products and services that TASE is exploring will no doubt play foundational roles in the future of Israel’s economy.”
TASE officially announced plans to create a blockchain-based digital asset platform in October 2022. As part of the plan, the Israeli stock exchange wanted to examine multiple options, including conversion of existing infrastructure to innovative technologies, deployment of innovative technologies into specialized platforms. The stock exchange was also looking to offer a basket of services and products for digital assets and more.
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In March 2023, TASE issued a proposal to approve an expansion of crypto trading activities to non-banking members. According to the proposal, non-banking members will act as licensed providers for crypto trading and custodial services.
TASE did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.
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Seven institutional firms have filed for a spot Bitcoin ETF in the U.S., including the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock, driving optimism and higher Bitcoin prices.
With the Bitcoin (BTC) halving event less than a year away, several financial giants have filed applications for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) — a scenario last seen before the 2020 to 2021 bull run.
Institutional interest in the sector dried up after major crypto giants such as FTX collapsed amid a prolonged crypto winter in 2022. Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies traded largely sideways as several crypto exchanges fell under regulatory scrutiny.
However, on news that major financial institutions such as BlackRock, Fidelity, Valkyrie and others were filing applications to list a spot Bitcoin ETF, the price of BTC recovered to over $30,000, spurring investment into the crypto market again.
While several institutional giants have filed spot Bitcoin ETF applications with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the past, all have either withdrawn their applications or faced outright rejections from the regulator.
The SEC approved the first Bitcoin futures ETF in October 2021 — the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF — which debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 19, 2021.
However, the spot Bitcoin ETF filing by the asset management giant BlackRock has increased the chances of the SEC approving the first spot Bitcoin ETF. That’s according to Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, who gives BlackRock a 50% chance of getting its spot Bitcoin ETF approved.
The most recent spate of ETF filings began with BlackRock’s filing with the SEC on June 16. WisdomTree, Invesco and Valkyrie also filed in the days and weeks that followed.
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On June 28, ARK Invest, which previously filed for a spot Bitcoin ETF in June 2021, amended its filing to make it similar to that of BlackRock. The next day, asset manager Fidelity Investments also filed for a spot Bitcoin ETF. In total, seven institutional giants have now filed for a spot Bitcoin ETF to date.
Some industry observers believe 2023 to 2024 will be crucial for approving a spot Bitcoin ETF. Robert Quartly-Janeiro, chief strategy officer of the cryptocurrency exchange Bitrue, told Cointelegraph that the timing is right, as “inflation is rampant and the money supply is a mixed picture, interest rates are high, and businesses are seeing decent revenues, which means crypto will need to perform in an economic environment where rates and inflation are key considerations.”
Bitcoin has weathered the aftermath of 2022 remarkably well and recovered more than half of its price decline during the bear market, largely thanks to the continued interest of institutional investors in the asset.
Indeed, there are significantly more institutional investors in the crypto market now compared with only one year ago. Until 2022, institutions kept a safe distance from the market, with even MicroStrategy stopping its routine BTC purchases.
Many large funds and companies have become interested in cryptocurrencies and are exploring their potential to invest in them.
Despite market volatility, global institutions show a steady interest in cryptocurrencies. Bitfinex chief technology officer Paolo Ardoino told Cointelegraph that Bitcoin represents tremendous value in terms of its utility and unique nature as a perfectly scarce asset that cannot ever be debased. He said, “The most traditional financial institutions recognize that,” adding, “It’s hardly surprising that at a time of record inflation in both major industrialized economies, as well as emerging markets, that the value of Bitcoin is being better understood by markets.”
“The recent new applications for Bitcoin spot market ETFs by some of the world’s most important asset managers demonstrates that there is investor, as well as issuer demand for Bitcoin, and that will only intensify. Apart from demonstrating increased institutional demand for Bitcoin, it will also attract new retail investors and encourage broader participation,” Ardoino said.
While many institutions distanced themselves from crypto over the past year, much of that was due to the public relations disaster brought on by FTX, with bank failures further exacerbating it. Richard Gardner, CEO of Modulus, told Cointelegraph that institutions foresaw the simmering of the crypto industry, and decided to lay low and sidestep the political and public response in the aftermath of FTX, thinking they’d be able to revisit their decision before crypto surged.
“We’re at the point where they’re beginning to weigh the risk versus reward of stepping back into the fray. Most institutions will likely be far more cautious, given the FTX disaster. They’re going to largely be moved based on the regulatory environment. As governments cobble together a full regulatory regime, and as bureaucrats decide how they plan to interpret the law, institutions will gauge their response and move forward accordingly,” Gardner said.
MicroStrategy — the leading investor in Bitcoin and one of the driving forces behind institutional adoption of BTC in 2020 — has continued its Bitcoin buying spree in 2023. When the firm faced major losses as the BTC price plunged below $16,500, CEO Michael Saylor maintained it had no intention of selling and would continue to add more BTC to its treasury. MicroStrategy currently hodls 152,333 BTC acquired for roughly $4.52 billion at an average price of $29,668 per Bitcoin.
While the 2017 bull run was sparked by retail interest, the 2020 to 2021 bull run was sparked by institutional inflows, with the likes of MicroStrategy and Tesla, and multiple other publicly-listed companies adding Bitcoin to their balance sheet.
Gracy Chen, managing director at crypto exchange Bitget, told Cointelegraph that institutions would act swiftly once they observe “stable and predictable retail interest.” Chen said, “The cumulative impact of institutions outweighs that of individual investors, and, therefore, they will continue to be a driving force for the growth of cryptocurrency market capitalization.”
She also stressed that growing interest from institutions could further crypto adoption, helping to spark the next bull run:
“Analysts expect that in the event of the approval of BlackRock’s ETF application alone, there could be a twofold increase in the price of Bitcoin. Considering BlackRock’s potential institutional investor base and influence, the approval of their spot BTC ETF would have a greater impact on the crypto market growth. With their BTC spot ETF application, they will likely inspire competition among relevant financial companies. This will direct more funds from traditional markets to Web3.”
Apart from the institutional push, there have been major developments in the retail market, with Hong Kong opening the doors for crypto exchanges to offer services to retail customers. Ben Caselin, vice president at crypto exchange MaskEX, told Cointelegraph that during the previous bull run, “U.S. institutions were the primary drivers of the upsurge, but they were arguably not ready to engage deeply and behaved no different than retail, essentially chasing gains and acting on hype.”
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“I expect this bull market to be Asia driven once again, perhaps with Hong Kong at the helm for the region, but based on my personal observations on the ground, I also expect a significant push to come from the Middle East, particularly from the United Arab Emirates, Saudia Arabia and other oil-rich jurisdictions,” he added.
With the next Bitcoin halving scheduled for April 2024, the rising interest of institutional investors is seen as a bullish sign for Bitcoin’s price and the broader crypto market. Bull runs have historically started in the run-up to the Bitcoin halving event, where the amount of BTC reward per block gets reduced by half every four years. The scarcity factor drives the price surge as retail traders and institutional giants rush to add to their Bitcoin portfolios.
Dutch investors now have access to a Bitcoin equities exchange-traded fund on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange.
The Netherlands has welcomed a new equities exchange-traded (ETF) fund that will give investors exposure to a basket of Bitcoin-related company stocks.
French investment firm Melanion Capital’s Bitcoin Equities ETF began trading on the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange on June 22, introducing an equities-based approach to investing in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
BTC NA is designed to track the Melanion Bitcoin Exposure Index, which is a custom basket of European and American stocks that are closely tied to the market price of BTC.
The ETF is compliant to the European Commission’s Undertakings for the Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) regulatory framework that is used for managing and trading mutual funds.
UCITS funds allow investment firms to register and sell trading products across the European Union through the provision of regulatory and investor protection requirements.
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Melanion CapitalCEO Jad Comair said the firm’s expansion to the Euronext Amsterdam exchange gives Dutch investors a ‘regulated and transparent solution’ to gain exposure to the Bitcoin ecosystem.
“The Dutch market has shown tremendous interest in digital assets, and we are delighted to offer them an avenue to access this exciting investment opportunity within a regulated framework.”
Melanion’s Bitcoin Exposure Index is composed of stocks from companies that either have significant investments in Bitcoin holdings as well as cryptocurrency exchanges and mining operations.
The index includes the likes of MicroStrategy, which under Michael Saylor’s guidance has acquired over 140,000 BTC valued at over $12.6 billion as of April 2023. Coinbase and Robinhood are two notable exchange platforms while mining firms like Riot, Marathon Digital and Hut8 also form part of Melanion’s stock index.
The firm notes that the BTC NA ETF aims to remain correlated to the market performance of Bitcoin, although a minimum correlation threshold has not been established. Melanion’s Bitcoin Equities ETF is also listed on the Euronext Paris and Euronext Milan stock exchanges.
Bitcoin ETFs have been in the headlines in June 2023, with the world's largest asset manager BlackRock filing an application for a Bitcoin spot exchange traded fund (ETF) with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
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In its proof of concept, TASE minted the first ERC-1155 security token representing a dummy digital government bond.
A new phase in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange's integration of blockchain technology and traditional assets has been completed with the minting of the first dummy digital government bond as an ERC-1155 security token.
The bond mint is part of the proof of concept (PoC) phase of Project Eden, a partnership between the Israeli Ministry of Finance and the stock exchange to explore blockchain infrastructure in issuing and settling government bonds.
Also included in the proof of concept was the tokenization of an Israeli Shekel — the country's fiat currency — which will serve as a digital payment token to power transactions. As part of the settlement process, a smart contract for bond management is used, which acts as an intermediary to ensure that transactions are verified and do not contain inconsistencies.
According to a June 6 blog post, the initiative's go-live event hosted several local and international banks, including Barclays, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, First International Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch, Bank HaPoalim, Bank Discount, Bank Leumi, and Bank Mizrah.
“We believe that the Startup Nation can play a leadership role in the digital transformation of the capital markets. [...] We believe that the capital market information will be completely different in a few years, and it is our job to lead the revolution,” said Ittai Ben Zeev, the CEO of Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
The PoC was built on an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible blockchain, allowing future integration with other blockchain solutions. Crypto firms Blockfold and Fireblocks are behind the distributed ledger infrastructure, enabling interaction across wallets and token standards for issuance and trading of treasury bonds, said a Fireblocks spokesperson in a statement to Cointelegraph.
Using Ethereum's ERC-1155 — the standard interface for the dummy bond minted — a single deployed contract can represent and control a combination of fungible and nonfungible tokens in any amount.
Blockchain-based settlement systems are also under development at the Bank of England and the Bank for International Settlements. Recently, the institutions completed a joint pilot that successfully purchased houses in Wales and England using distributed ledger technology. The project aims to provide a settlement system for central bank digital currencies.
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As for Israel, the central bank is analyzing stablecoin adoption and considering issuing a CBDC to prevent private companies from taking over the country's digital payments system in the coming years.
