HANetf, Europe’s largest independent white-label ETP provider, launched the world’s first euro-hedged bitcoin exchange-traded commodity on Monday, listing the Arrow Bitcoin EUR Hedged ETC under the ticker EBTC on Euronext Paris. The product began trading September 29 with currency hedging supplied by HSBC and a total expense ratio of 0.49 percent, according to the company. The listing lets European investors hold bitcoin exposure in their home currency without adding a separate view on the US dollar.
Removing the dollar from a bitcoin bet
Bitcoin is priced globally in US dollars, so a European investor in an unhedged bitcoin ETC effectively holds two positions at once: one on bitcoin and one on the dollar. When the dollar weakens, local-currency returns fall even if bitcoin rises in dollar terms. HANetf argues the problem already has an established fix in gold, where euro-hedged products account for roughly $23 billion, or about 13 percent, of European gold ETC assets. “With this launch, we are bringing the established logic of Euro-hedged ETFs to the crypto market,” said co-founder and co-CEO Hector McNeil.
How the product is built
The ETC uses physical replication and is domiciled in Jersey, with Interactive Brokers LLC as custodian and HANetf Multi-Asset ETC Issuer Plc as issuer. It lists on Euronext Paris from September 29 and on Xetra from September 30 under the ticker EBTC, carrying ISIN XS3438606090. HANetf’s earlier crypto work includes the Bitwise Physical Bitcoin ETP, launched in June 2020 as the world’s first centrally cleared bitcoin ETP. The currency hedge is designed to neutralize EUR/USD movements, isolating bitcoin’s own price performance.
A maturing European crypto ETP market
The launch lands as European crypto ETP assets have grown to roughly $12 billion, still a fraction of the roughly $100 billion held in US products. Demand has been uneven: Europe’s bitcoin ETPs recently suffered $946 million of redemptions in a single week even as Ethereum funds drew inflows, while the CoinShares Physical Bitcoin ETP became Europe’s largest as bitcoin’s price climbed. HANetf’s bet is that as adoption matures, investors will pay closer attention to how their currency exposure is structured rather than treating a bitcoin position as a pure dollar trade. Currency-hedged structures are already a proven playbook in European commodities, and HANetf is betting the same logic extends to crypto.
