Carey Olsen advises CoinShares on launch of exchange-traded Bitcoin product
Carey Olsen's Jersey corporate team has advised CoinShares, Europe's largest digital asset investment firm with US$3 billion in AUM, on the establishment of its new institutional-grade cryptocurrency-backed exchange traded product (ETP). CoinShares Physical Bitcoin (Ticker: BITC), launched on 19 January with US$200M in AUM, and is the first CoinShares product to be listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange.
The ETP programme is operated by CoinShares Digital Securities Limited, a wholly owned company of CoinShares Group.
CoinShares has developed its ETP programme in response to growing demand amongst institutional investors for trustworthy and transparent digital asset investment opportunities. The ETP programme's physically-backed structure provides institutions experienced in trading similar commodity-based investment securities with a familiar structure for cryptocurrency investments.
The Carey Olsen team was comprised of partner James Mulholland, counsel Colin Masterton and associates Luke Costello and Filip Kwilinski. The team advised CoinShares on Jersey legal and regulatory aspects of the ETP programme's establishment.
James commented: "Carey Olsen is delighted to have worked on this exciting project alongside the CoinShares team. As a long-standing client of the firm, CoinShares has been at the forefront of innovation within the digital asset space for many years and we're proud to have been involved with its latest development, further helping the team navigate Jersey's robust digital asset regulatory regime.
"Jersey is leading the way as a crypto-friendly jurisdiction, which enables professional investment firms like CoinShares to build investment products and services domiciled here. Launches like CoinShares Physical Bitcoin serve to underline that fact."
Carey Olsen has previously advised CoinShares on the launch of both the world's first regulated, crypto-denominated investment fund (2017), which provided investors with exposure to the liquid digital asset ecosystem, and the 2014 launch of the first ever regulator-approved Bitcoin investment fund.
