Ignoring crash, bitcoin tracking pioneer loads up full basket

STOCKHOLM: Undaunted by the crash in cryptocurrencies, the company that created the first exchange traded bitcoin trackers now wants to offer a whole basket of digital currencies to bet on.

The plan is to launch an exchange traded product based on a basket of five to 10 such currencies before the end of the year, according to Stockholm-based XBT Provider AB.

This is “something that the market is looking for,” said Laurent Kssis, the company’s chief executive officer, in an interview.

“They are telling us I’d just like blended exposure to five or 10 cryptocurrencies.”

XBT has since 2015 offered exchange traded products to allow more people to invest in the volatile digital currency market, without having to go through all steps of opening a crypto-wallet.

It’s risky territory.

The lead currency, bitcoin, has tumbled as much as 60% from a peak in December 2017. The company has found interest in Sweden, which is leading the way to becoming a cashless society, and where regulators have an “open mind approach” to the asset class, he said. “Sweden is very much ahead of the curve when it comes to cashless transaction, and there’s even talk of an e-krona,” Kssis said. “The investor base is very receptive to this.”

In the US, the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month temporarily suspended trading in the company’s Bitcoin Tracker One and Ether Tracker One, citing investor confusion regarding the assets.

Kssis declined to comment on the move by the SEC.

In a statement on Sept 10, the company said the suspension “relates only to trading in the Unites States, does not apply to trading on the listing market – Nasdaq Stockholm, and does not relate to any action taken or failed to be taken by XBT Provider AB.”