Amun AG, a startup based in Zug, Switzerland has been granted a license by the Swiss authorities to offer a new cryptocurrency-exchange-traded product (ETP). An ETP is a term that covers a security whose price derives from an underlying asset (e.g. A currency, commodity, or stock that is traded on a regulated stock market. It could be used to refer to any number of exchange traded investment options, such as exchange-traded funds or commodities (ETF), and exchange-traded notes/ETN.
Anum AG
Anum has only referred to the instrument as an ETP. It’s not clear at this time if it is characteristically an ETF, ETC, or ETN. Amun AG stated that its ETP would be based upon a collection the five most liquid crypto assets. It calls this “HODL5”. The currencies included in the ETP are bitcoin, Ripple’s Ripple’sXRP, litecoin, and bitcoin cash. The company will buy cryptocurrency using cash from its customers. The assets will then go into custodial hands. Management fees will be charged at 2.5 percent.
VanEck also developed the MVIS, an index that tracks institutional-grade prices. The pricing of the fund is also sourced from it. Hany Rashwan, Amun’s CEO, explains that the Amun ETP will allow institutional investors who are not allowed to invest in securities or don’t want to set up custody to allow digital assets exposure to cryptocurrency. Retail investors who are currently unable to access crypto exchanges because of local regulatory restrictions will also be able to use it.
SIX Swiss Exchange
It will trade the ETP. This is the official stock exchange of the country. The platform, based in Zurich and worth more than $1 trillion, earned well over $100 million during the first half 2018.
The U.S. has seen a lot of big-league financial players struggle to create a cryptocurrency-based ETF. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected applications for bitcoin ETFs from some of the biggest players in the industry, such as the Winklevosses’ Gemini Exchange, New York. Nine applications that were rejected by the SEC’s staff are currently pending review by its Commission. A bitcoin ETF, which VanEck and SolidX have jointly pitched, is still awaiting a decision.
August 2018 was the first time American investors had access to an exchange-traded bond (ETN), the “Bitcoin Tracker One” ETN on the Nasdaq Stockholm Exchange, Sweden. It was first established in 2015. An ETN, which is an ETF that issues shares of an underlying asset instead of a bond, is more similar to a bond. It is an unsecured note that can be purchased and traded until it reaches maturity. At that point, the debt must be repaid.
Investors
Investors had been limited to buying into the ETN with either the kora or euros, the Swedish national currency. The USD listing of the tracker opened the door to western interest. The SEC then suspended American access to the Bitcoin Tracker One (and Ether Tracker One) issued by the Swedish company XBT Provider AB. The SEC stated that investors were confused by the process and blocked them from participating in either venture.