Switzerland's first retail spot bitcoin ETF to list on SIX in November

Switzerland's first spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund for retail investors, BIT Asset Management's Bitcoin Fund ETF (BBIT), is expected to start trading on SIX Swiss Exchange in November, Cointelegraph reported. The regulator FINMA announced the approval on Tuesday without naming the issuer; BIT Asset Management confirmed on Thursday that the fund is theirs.

What is new here

• The fund holds bitcoin directly, rather than tracking it through derivatives or a basket of coins.
• It is approved for public offering in Switzerland only.
• FINMA has allowed funds that invest mainly in a basket of cryptocurrencies since 2021, but this is the first fund investing only in bitcoin it has approved. It pointed to bitcoin's longer trading history and higher volume than other coins.
• Other providers have also applied for bitcoin ETFs, FINMA said.

ETF vs ETP: why the wrapper matters

Europeans can already buy bitcoin on exchanges through exchange-traded products (ETPs). BIT Asset Management stressed the difference: most of those ETPs are debt instruments that carry the issuer's credit risk. BBIT is instead a Swiss collective investment scheme, so the bitcoin is held separately from the fund manager's assets and "ring-fenced" for investors. It sits in FINMA's category of "other funds for alternative investments" with particular risk. Our guide to crypto ETFs, ETPs and ETNs explains these structures in detail.

Still bitcoin's volatility

FINMA was blunt that an approved wrapper does not tame the asset: bitcoin "remains highly volatile" even inside an ETF. If you are weighing a fund against holding coins yourself, see bitcoin ETF vs buying bitcoin.