Xetra, Deutsche Borse’s electronic trading platform, has prepared to launch its first Ether (ETH)-based exchange-traded products (ETPs).
It has been reported that the platform is set to debut trading of two Ether ETPs — ETC Group’s Ether exchange-traded commodity (ETC), product (ZETH), and 21Shares’ Ethereum ETP (AETH).
A spokesperson for Deutsche Borse said that the two products will be the first Ether ETPs to ever be listed on Xetra.
Laurent Kssis, the Global Head of ETP, said that alongside AETH, Xetra will be also listing 21Shares’ Bitcoin Cash (BCH) ETP.
Kssis added:
“As of tomorrow 21Shares will have 4 ETPs centrally cleared on Xetra which shows how the exchange has put its trust in us and demanded that we step in with more institutional grade ETPs for investors.”
Likewise, ZETH was approved by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, Germany’s financial regulator better known as BaFin.
The company said that the new crypto investment product provides a physically-backed, central counterparty-cleared ETC on Ether cryptocurrency that is stored in regulated, institutional-grade custody by BitGo Trust Company.
The report said that the upcoming listings bring three new crypto products to four Bitcoin ETPs already listed on Xetra, including ETC Group’s BTCetc and VanEck’s Vectors Bitcoin ETN, as well as 21Shares’s Bitcoin ETP and Short Bitcoin ETP. Representing an electronic trading platform operated by Deutsche Borse, Xetra is one of the largest trading platforms in Europe.
Deutsche Borse’s @Xetra prepares to list 3 new crypto ETPs tomorrow but is unlikely to move into crypto ETFs anytime soon due to EU regulations, a spokesman says. https://t.co/EgqzjFq0UO — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) March 8, 2021
The company also said that Xetra accounts for nearly 90% of the total trading volume of all German stock exchanges, listing over 2,700 tradable securities.
Moreover, despite Xetra’s increasing adoption of crypto ETPs, the company is apparently unlikely to start onboarding other types of crypto investment products such as a crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF) anytime soon.
Stephan Kraus, the head of Deutsche Borse’s ETF segment, said:
“ETFs on a single cryptocurrency are currently legally not possible due to the European Union’s regulatory framework for funds.”
Thus, he added:
“For the same reason, there are currently, for example, no gold ETFs listed on EU trading venues. ETPs track the price development of an underlying in a similar way to ETFs, but are legally debt instruments and not funds.”
Source: Cointelegraph | Image: Tradevistas