Grayscale unveils its first ETF aimed at the European market to invest in the finance of tomorrow. It includes blockchain and cryptocurrency stocks such as Coinbase, Silvergate and Robinhood in its holdings
Grayscale exports its first ETF to European exchanges
Grayscale, the well-known institutional crypto-asset manager, has just announced that it is launching for the first time in Europe on the Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) market:
An exciting milestone: Announcing our first European ETF, Grayscale Future of Finance UCITS ETF – listing on London Stock Exchange (LSE), Borsa Italiana, and Deutsche Börse Xetra.
https://t.co/kwmWSxvOiV– Grayscale (@Grayscale) May 16, 2022
The ETF in question is the Grayscale Future of Finance UCITS ETF, also with the ticker GFOF, and will be listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), Borsa Italiana in Milan and Xetra in Frankfurt.
In February, the company first launched the product on the US market on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Michael Sonnenshein, Grayscale’s CEO, expressed his enthusiasm for exporting the investment vehicle across the Atlantic:
We announced our first ETF earlier this year in partnership with Bloomberg as part of our business expansion. With growing global demand for Grayscale products from institutional and retail investors, we are delighted to extend our offering into Europe via the UCITS Directive.
UCITS stands for “Undertaking for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities” or “Organisme de placement collectif en valeurs mobilières” (OPCVM) in French. These ETFs are governed by a set of rules in order to comply with the European market.
The composition of the fund
The GFOF ETF replicates the performance of the Bloomberg Grayscale Future of Finance Index. This is an index that speculates on companies that are aiming to take part in building the digital finance of the future. It is structured around 3 pillars:
- Financial players such as brokers and fund managers;
- Technology solution providers;
- And providers of digital asset infrastructure such as cryptocurrency mining for example.
So, the portfolio currently consists of 21 names, among which we can mention the cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase as well as Block, formerly known as Square, founded by Jack Dorsey. Silvergate and Robinhood are also present.
Thus, this solution offered by Grayscale is an indirect way to get some exposure to the cryptocurrency market. It will certainly not be as representative in terms of performance as buying Bitcoin (BTC), but it remains an interesting way to take a first step, to discover our ecosystem through traditional finance.
