Cryptocurrency ETP specialist Bitwise has confirmed it will be taking over the distribution of its European crypto products from HANetf, the UK-based ETF white label platform. Bitwise, which is a US-based manager of crypto products, with $4.8bn in Bitcoin investments in the US alone, acquired ETC Group, a HANetf client, last year.
Bradley Duke, managing director for Europe at Bitwise, told ETF trade news service ETF Stream that this was always part of the long term plan for Bitwise, which wanted to strengthen its own ETF distribution capabilities in the region.
ETC Group originally used HANetf for marketing and distribution while its crypto ETPs were hosted on a German platform. Bitwise Physical Bitcoin ETP is the second biggest fund on the HANetf platform after the Future of Defence UCITS, with over $1.3bn in crypto AuM. Its loss, along with Bitwise Physical XRP and Bitwise Ethereum Staking (among other Bitwise crypto ETPs), puts a significant hole in HANetf’s total platform AuM.
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Bitwise doubling down on Europe
The decision by Bitwise to acquire ETC Group looks like a canny move on the part of the US fund manager. The deal allowed Bitwise to move aggressively into the European market. ETC distinguished itself as one of first Bitcoin managers to have an authorised crypto ETP product on the European market and has been riding the wave of incoming asset flows ever since.
There is now increasing interest in crypto ETPs in Europe, spurred in no small part by the Trump administration’s more liberal attitude to crypto. Investors are anticipating a new wave of products on both sides of the Atlantic, providing access to markets like Solana, XRP and Litecoin. Landmark legislation, like the Genius Act and the Clarity Act, are also considered good news for the wider crypto ETP space.
“Clear crypto legislation will better incentivize the largest financial institutions to build in crypto, bringing billions of investment into crypto assets and guiding trillions of dollars of traditional assets onto blockchain-based rails,” said Matt Hougan, CIO at Bitwise. “If you’ve ever wondered what would happen to crypto if JPMorgan, Bank of New York Mellon and Nasdaq could build freely in the space, you’re about to find out.”
The distribution decision by Bitwise comes at a time when European regulators, including the FCA, are in the process of liberalising the regime for distribution of crypto ETPs to retail investors. Wealth managers in Europe, previously sceptical about crypto products, are increasingly starting to sound like fans, according to conversations held by The Armchair Trader with private banks and hedge funds.
