Fidelity International, a global investment subsidiary business of Fidelity Investments, announced on Thursday that it launched a physical Bitcoin exchange traded product (ETP) in Europe. The launch came as a result of increasing demand for digital assets among European investors, Fidelity said.
The investment firm stated that it is currently listing its Physical Bitcoin ETP on the Deutsche Börse stock exchange in Frankfurt and SIX Swiss Exchange in Zurich. The company mentioned that it soon plans to list the Bitcoin ETP on the Toronto Stock Exchange by December.
The Physical Bitcoin ETP tracks the price of the biggest cryptocurrency by market value and is being made available to Fidelity International's institutional and professional clients in Europe.
According to the announcement, Fidelity Digital Assets, the digital assets arm of US-based Fidelity Investments, will serve as custodian for the ETP.
Nick King, the Head of Exchange Traded Funds at Fidelity International, stated that the launch was a significant evolution in his firm’s ETP offering and the first step in its digital assets’ product capability.
Expanding Access of Digital Assets to Customers
The launch comes after Fidelity Digital Assets was awarded an official license with the UK regulator to offer its digital assets custody and trading services in the United Kingdom late last year.
Early last year, Fidelity Digital Assets launched its digital assets services to expand its digital currency business after realizing that the digital assets ecosystem has grown significantly in the last few years. As a result, the firm established its Bitcoin ETF for US institutional investors last year.
In early 2020, Fidelity launched fractional stock and ETFs-trading on its mobile apps to enable retail investors to buy fractional shares for as little as $1. The feature enables small investors to diversify their portfolios by spreading their relatively small capital over a wider range of stocks.
