The XBT Provider instruments Bitcoin Tracker One (Ticker: COINXBT) and Bitcoin Tracker EUR (Ticker: COINXBE) have resumed trading in Stockholm after Nasdaq approved Global Advisors (Jersey) Limited as the new guarantor of the Exchange Traded Certificates (ETC) with XBT Group becoming a subsidiary of GAJL after its main stockholder, Bitcoin miner firm KnC Miner, declared bankruptcy.
Trading of the company’s two instruments was halted by Nasdaq Nordic on May 27. During the two-week absence of the instruments, Bitcoin prices had risen by around $200.
Following the bankruptcy of KnC Miner, XBT Provider had limited time with Nasdaq to find a new parent before the products were delisted permanently. Now, however, with the Global Advisors acquisition of XBT, the combined group will continue to offer the publicly-traded bitcoin product.
“Global will also bring all the best practices learned via GABI to XBT and share resources in an efficient way,” Daniel Masters, co-founder and director of Global Advisors, told Bitcoin Magazine.
After 30-year careers in mainstream commodities and as managers of the Global Advisors Commodity Investment Fund and the Global Advisors Commodity Systematic Fund, the principals see opportunity in Bitcoin as an emerging commodity and currency and believe that Bitcoin will change the world.
“In concert with what the firm achieved in commodities, we will follow the same pattern [by] explaining the investment thesis behind Bitcoin, providing a team with appropriate expertise and a series of vehicles fit for purpose,” Masters said. “Global Advisors Bitcoin Investment Fund (GABI) is the only fully regulated Bitcoin investment fund targeting institutions and in adding XBT we are addressing the online retail and professional markets.”
He further added that by using interfaces such as Interactive Brokers, Bitcoin exposure via XBT can be accessed in a single click in 179 countries.
However, despite the fact that the XBT Group was the first to market with a listed, freely tradable Bitcoin investment vehicle listed on Nasdaq, the times have changed. Masters notes that as XBT has grown there have been additional demands in respect of compliance with AML (anti-money laundering), CFT (combating the finance of terrorism) and KYC (know your customer), in addition to compliance with Nasdaq rules.
“Global Advisors, with the benefit of the experiences with GABI, is expert in all these areas,” he said. “In addition, the algorithms XBT uses, the marketing network Global Advisors has created over the last 16 years and the experience of the principals will be shared across both products and future products.”
The Role of Bitcoin Tracker One and Bitcoin Tracker EUR
Buying bitcoins can still be a complicated process, especially for regulated entities or certain tax advantages funds like IRAs. This is because the ecosystem of Bitcoin exchanges is segmented by geography, currency, regulatory status and compliance rules.
With Bitcoin Tracker One and Bitcoin Tracker EUR, though, they have been designed to provide investors with convenient and liquid access to the returns of the underlying asset, Bitcoin.
“Global Advisors and XBT perform initial and ongoing research and monitoring on these exchanges [so] we believe investors in the XBT products will be shielded from the vagaries of any one exchange,” said Masters. “Moreover, it is not practical for an investor to manage multiple exchange accounts and thus benefit from risk mitigation through such economies of scale, so the XBT products, for a modest fee, offer significant protection.”