Asset manager VanEck launches bitcoin ETN on Germany's Deutsche Boerse Xetra

U.S.-based asset manager VanEck has gone live with a bitcoin exchange-traded note (ETN) on the Deutsche Boerse Xetra marketplace.

VanEck was one of a number of firms that were unsuccessful in their attempts to get a bitcoin exchange-traded fund listed in the U.S. Regulators repeated cited the risk of market manipulation and the lack of surveillance agreements among exchanges for their hesitation in approving such products. 

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Investors can use the new VanEck product to gain exposure to bitcoin without having to purchase it themselves, according to a VanEck press release. The VanEck product, the company says, aims to mirror bitcoin’s performance. The ETN is physically backed by bitcoin.

“Bitcoin's low correlation to other asset classes makes it an excellent way to contribute to the diversification of a portfolio,” Martijn Rozemuller, Head of Europe at VanEck, said in a statement. “With our VanEck Vectors Bitcoin ETN, we offer a product that allows investors to benefit from the performance of Bitcoin.”

VanEck is to partner with the crypto custodian Bank Frick to hold custody of the bitcoin tied to the ETN, according to ETF Stream. The German trading system Xetra filed the VanEck Vectors Bitcoin ETN (VBTC) with a total expense ratio of 2%.

About Author

MK Manoylov has been a reporter for The Block since 2020 — joining just before bitcoin surpassed $20,000 for the first time. Since then, MK has written nearly 1,000 articles for the publication, covering any and all crypto news but with a penchant toward NFT, metaverse, web3 gaming, funding, crime, hack and crypto ecosystem stories. MK holds a graduate degree from New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program (SHERP) and has also covered health topics for WebMD and Insider. You can follow MK on X @MManoylov and on LinkedIn.