Grayscale Investments wants to establish its first exchange-traded fund (ETF) in Europe, giving investors access to financial, technological, and digital asset firms.
Grayscale tweeted and shared the news about the Grayscale Future of Finance UCITS ETF (GFOF) that will list on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), the Deutsche Börse, and Borsa Italiana and will be available to investors across Europe. According to a business official, trading in the ETF will begin tomorrow.
What is an ETF?
A pooled investment product called an exchange-traded fund (ETF) works similarly to a mutual fund. ETFs often follow a particular index, sector, commodity, or other assets, but unlike mutual funds, they may be bought and sold on a stock market just like any other stock. An ETF can be set up to follow anything from a single commodity’s price to a vast and diversified group of assets. ETFs can even be built to follow specific investing strategies.
The Bloomberg Grayscale Future of Finance Index, which was introduced in January to measure the performance of financial services and technology businesses in the digital economy, will be followed by the ETF. PayPal (PYPL), Coinbase Global (COIN), Block (SQ), Robinhood Markets (HOOD), and Argo Blockchain are just a few of them (ARB).
A Push to Bitcoin ETF
Grayscale is well recognized for its bitcoin investment products, mainly its flagship product, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).
GBTC has been suffering from a widening discount since February 2021, which touched historic lows around 30% this week.
Grayscale aggressively seeks to transform its GBTC into a real Bitcoin ETF to eliminate the discount, but the US Securities and Exchange Commission is opposed (SEC). Moreover, the SEC has yet to approve a Bitcoin ETF backed by the actual asset, citing concerns about price manipulation and Bitcoin’s volatility.
Simultaneously, the government has approved four Bitcoin ETFs linked to futures contracts.
