BlackRock enters Europe's Bitcoin ETP market with IB1T

BlackRock expands its dominant position in the U.S., overseas to Europe.

BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) is the fastest growing fund of its kind, and, with assets under management (AuM) currently totalling some $47.3bn as of April 3rd, the largest.

Now though, in a ‘cat-amongst-the-pigeons’ move, the number one BTC fund issuer has entered the smaller, though highly competitive, European crypto exchange traded product (ETP) market, where the first Bitcoin ETP was launched as far back as December 2019.

As Bloomberg notes, “While ETPs linked to cryptocurrencies have traded on European bourses for years, the market’s $13.6 billion size pales in comparison to that of the US.”

BlackRock's 1st EU BTC fund

The iShares Bitcoin ETP listed on Euronext Amsterdam (ticker: BTCN), Euronext Paris (IB1T), and Frankfurt-based Deutsche Boerse’s Xetra (IB1T) on March 25th.

IB1T marks BlackRock’s first Bitcoin product of any kind outside of North America. Just like IBIT, IB1T utilizes a regulated CF Benchmarks index for NAV calculation, in this case CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate (BRR).

BRR is our first BTC price variant, and has been integrated into the settlement procedure for CME Group’s, Bitcoin futures and options – among the first ever regulated crypto products products – for almost a decade; making BRR truly the most utilized and liquid institutional Bitcoin price.

Meanwhile IBIT, listed on Nasdaq, tracks our CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate - New York Variant (BRRNY).

A new iShares BTC ETP tracking BRRNY's European-hours variant, could enjoy market structural liquidity effects, ultimately benefitting investors and consumers.

Again, like IBIT, Coinbase’s custody services secures IB1T's physical Bitcoin holdings, while Bank of New York Mellon is fund Administrator.

iShares has a 10 basis point fee reduction in place till end-2025, on a Total Expense Ratio that was already among the lowest relative to European Bitcoin funds, at 0.25%.