WisdomTree Gets Green Light to List Bitcoin, Ether ETPs on London Stock Exchange

ETPs will be open to professional investors only and carry a 35 basis point fee.

The FCA recently relaxed its stance on such products, banning them in 2020.

Asset manager WisdomTree (WT) has received approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to list crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), saying it is among the first to have its prospectus authorized. Before the UK regulator.

WisdomTree’s Physical Bitcoin (BTCW) and Physical Ethereum (ETHW) ETPs are expected to begin trading on May 28 and will be available only to professional investors, according to an announcement Wednesday. They will carry a 35 basis point fee.

The New York-based firm has more than $111 billion in assets under management globally, and the WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund (BTCW) was among the funds approved to operate a spot bitcoin ETF in the US in January. It has been offering crypto products on European exchanges since 2019.

The FCA said in March that it would not object to requests from financial institutions seeking to list ETPs for professional investors. LSE has confirmed that it will accept applications for Bitcoin {{BTC}} and Ethereum {{ETH}} products in the second quarter.

The regulator also approved the prospectuses of 21Shares and Invesco, according to the FCA website. Neither firm immediately responded to CoinDesk’s request for further comment.

The FCA imposed a ban on crypto derivatives products, including ETPs, in January 2020. However, following the widespread availability of such products in Europe for several years and listing approvals of US spot ETFs, the regulator changed its stance. It keeps the ban in place for retail investors.

Read More: DWS, Galaxy Digital List Exchange-Traded Commodities Offering BTC and ETH Position in Germany

UPDATE (May 22, 12:35 UTC): 21Shares and Invesco also add a line for approval of their prospectuses.