The international branch of investment firm Fidelity recently announced the launch of their first Bitcoin Exchange Traded Product (ETP) in Europe, according to a report from ETF Stream. Called Fidelity Physical Bitcoin ETF, the investment product will be listed on the Deutsche Boerse, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and will be list the SIX Swiss platform under the ticker FBTC.
Fidelity International holds over $611 billion in total assets and operates in more than 25 countries, per their website. They offer investment solutions to a variety of clients, including central banks, sovereign wealth funds, major corporations, financial institutions, and others.
Thus, their Bitcoin ETP in Europe could see significant interest and will meet the growing demand for BTC exposure. Data provided by Fidelity International after conducting a survey with institutional participants, claims there is a 70% interest in investing in digital assets and cryptocurrencies from responders.
In addition, Fidelity International revealed that their physical Bitcoin ETP will have a total expense ratio of 0.75% and claimed it will be the “cheapest on the European market along with SEBA Bank’s” SBTCU.
The investment product will be cleared by Eurex Clearing and Fidelity Digital Assets, a custodial service-oriented to institutional investors, will operate as FBTC’s custodian. In addition, Fidelity International revealed that Brown Brothers Harriman, a financial institution with a 200-year-old history, will operate as FBTC’s administrator and transfer agent.
Christian Staub, Managing Director for the European division at Fidelity International, said blockchain technology has the potential to improve and transform the legacy financial system. Staub added the following on the launch of this physical BTC Exchange-Traded Product:
As this technology becomes increasingly accepted, our clients are rightly asking for an efficient way to benefit from this trend. FBTC offers clients an institutional quality solution to enter the market in a familiar, simple and secure way.
One Of The Cheapest Bitcoin ETPs In The Market
This investment product will be competing with Invesco’s physical BTC Exchange Traded Fund which trades under the ricker BTIC. The U.S.-based ETF provider launched their BTIC back in November 2021.
Senior ETF analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence Eric Balchunas called the Fidelity International announcement a big development in the sector. The investment firm’s FBTC product, the expert said, will be the cheapest crypto ETP in the world with its 0.75% fee.
When compared to other crypto investment products, such as Grayscale’s GBTC, the fee appears more cost-efficient. The Grayscale product has a 2% trading fee and a lot of limitations for investors that want spot BTC exposure in the U.S., Balchunas added:
Fidelity just launched their first spot bitcoin ETP in Europe with a fee of 75bps, making it the cheapest crypto ETP in world. The general range over there is about 1%. And then over here $GBTC is 2% and SMAs are 1-2%.
