Bitcoin ETP: BlackRock’s UK Coup 🤑

by

In a turn of events that would make even the most unflappable of butlers raise an eyebrow, BlackRock has been given the green light by the UK’s financial bigwigs, the Financial Conduct Authority, to dabble in the cryptic arts. 😲

DL News, that trusty herald of financial tidings, reported on April Fool’s Day (no joke!) that the behemoth of investments, with its positively Gatsby-esque pile of assets, will now be able to flog its shiny new Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded product to the Brits. BlackRock now rubs shoulders with the likes of Coinbase, PayPal, and Revolut, making it the 51st company to earn the FCA’s golden stamp of approval. 🥇

It seems the FCA is rather picky, with only a lucky 14% of applicants making the cut. The rest, one assumes, were either hopelessly vague or as informative as a silent film. 🤐

The iShares Bitcoin ETP, with the catchy ticker IB1T, has already started its ballroom dance on the Euronext Paris and Amsterdam floors. It sashayed in with a nifty temporary fee waiver, cutting its expenses to a trim 0.15% until the clock strikes 2024. After the party, the fee jumps to a more robust 0.25%, in line with the behemoth CoinShares’ Bitcoin ETP. 💃

Each share of this ETP is as solid as a rock – a Bitcoin rock, that is, guarded by the watchful eyes of Coinbase. This move by BlackRock is a encore after the smashing success of its iShares Bitcoin Trust, or IBIT, which has raked in a fortune that would make Scrooge McDuck blush. 🦆

IB1T is using a blueprint that’s as tried and tested as a vintage Rolls-Royce, giving our European chums a dandy, regulated way to get a piece of the Bitcoin pie without having to actually juggle the digital coins. It’s all very Swiss and proper, you know. 🇨🇭

The grand entrance of BlackRock into Europe’s crypto scene suggests that the clamour for Bitcoin is growing louder across the pond. CEO Larry Fink, in a move that would make a chess grandmaster proud, has hinted that the dollar’s reign might be on the wobble, thus strengthening Bitcoin’s hand as the ultimate piggy bank. 🐷

Crypto.news, that sly whisperer of digital secrets, reported that in his annual missive, Fink suggested that as governments spend like there’s no tomorrow, investors might just turn to Bitcoin as the last bastion of safety. 🏰

Read More

2025-04-02 07:14