Figment Europe Ltd, a provider of institutional staking infrastructure, and Apex Group are planning to list two new exchange-traded products (ETPs) on the SIX Swiss Exchange on 12 March.
The “Figment Ethereum Plus Staking Rewards” ETP will trade under the ticker symbol “ETHF” and the “Figment Solana Plus Staking Rewards” ETP will trade under the ticker “SOLF” once live. The products are fully backed by Ethereum and Solana, respectively, using Figment’s staking infrastructure.
Both ETPs will be issued with Issuance.Swiss AG — the products will give access to staking rewards through traditional brokers or banks allowing conservative institutions to hold the asset class through the ETPs.
The Ethereum and Solana ETPs will track an index provided by MarketVector which measures the price performance of ETH along with the staking rewards earned by the product, using Figment’s rewards indexing capabilities.
“Unprecedented Demand” From Institutional Investors
Figment said there is unprecedented demand for crypto ETPs and it remains a challenge for institutions to buy crypto and stake directly.
“We remain committed to the unprecedented demand we are seeing from institutional investors wanting staking exposure,” said Eva Lawrence, Head of Figment Europe, in a press release.
“The popularity and interest in ETH and SOL has increased substantially over the past few months,” said Josh Deems, Institutional Business Development Lead for Figment, adding, “However, it is still challenging for institutions to buy crypto and stake directly. The ETPs will contribute to an increased accessibility to staking rewards for a wide audience, and we at Figment are proud that Apex and Issuance.Swiss chose Figment to be part of this development.”
European Market Leads the Way With ETPs
Earlier this year, the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) approved almost a dozen spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) which has in turn triggered a bull market and trading frenzy.
In Europe, many issuers have successfully listed numerous cryptocurrency ETPs over the years ago giving investors exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum. Major crypto ETP providers in Europe include CoinShares, 21Shares, WisdomTree, ETC Group, Valour and Fidelity.
Crypto ETPs Versus ETFs – What’s the Difference?
According to CoinShares, a European asset manager specializing in digital assets, in the U.S. the term “ETF” has become the default term for all exchange-traded products that aim to replicate the performance of an underlying asset or benchmark.
“In Europe, due to specific fund regulations, the term “ETF” cannot be used for single assets like bitcoin, gold, or smaller baskets of assets. This regulatory distinction means that when European investors search for a “crypto ETF,” they should be searching for a “crypto ETP” instead,” explains CoinShares on its website.
In February, CoinShares announced investors of the Europe-listed CoinShares Physical Ethereum ETP (ticker: ETHE/CETH) can earn a 1.25% staking reward per year.