State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT) announced today that it has been appointed as the administrator of a planned bitcoin backed exchange traded note (ETN) initiated by Iconic Funds BTC ETN GmbH, a subsidiary of Iconic Funds GmbH. The ETN will be listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, following the approval by the German Securities Regulator (BaFin).
Launched in 2019, Iconic is the holding company of a series of subsidiaries that manage and issue crypto asset index investment products, offering passive and diversified exposure for investors. This bitcoin backed ETN will be Iconic’s first exchange trade investment product, which allows investors to participate in the performance of Bitcoin by using a familiar market.
“When preparing our product, we focused on partnering with only ‘Tier-one service providers’,” said Patrick Lowry Chief Executive Officer at Iconic. “State Street’s history and expertise in digital assets and knowledge of client requirements will be vital as we embark on this journey and on future crypto related products.”
State Street will perform administrator services to support the issuance of the ETN by calculating the net asset value of the bitcoin portfolio consuming crypto market data from various crypto depositories.
“The digital asset ecosystem is gaining significant momentum and is leading to a growing pipeline of cryptocurrency related administration services,” said Nadine Chakar, head of State Street’s Global Markets business. “We’re delighted to be collaborating with Iconic Funds and to continue to evolve our important servicing needs as part of our broader strategy for the crypto and digital assets environment..”
State Street will work closely with the other service providers chosen by Iconic, such as Coinbase Custody and Fidelity, who have been selected to store bitcoin and manage its operational risk.
“As we embark on building an open financial system enabled by crypto, we’re delighted to work with Iconic and other service providers such as State Street and Fidelity,” said Drew Robinson, head of Institutional Coverage, EMEA at Coinbase. “Coinbase Custody holds assets in offline cold storage providing maximum security, is a qualified custodian, and licensed to custody assets through a separate trust company.”
“Institutional interest in Bitcoin had been steadily increasing for several years, but the pandemic has served as a catalyst, drawing even more demand from this investor segment, due to the unprecedented levels of monetary and fiscal stimulus and the attractiveness of a fixed supply uncorrelated asset,” said Chris Tyrer, head of Fidelity Digital Assets in Europe. “The maturation of the digital assets ecosystem has been integral to supporting the demand in the marketplace in response to this strong global macro narrative.”
State Street has been actively engaged in the digital asset space for a number of years. The firm has committed to evolve its broader strategy for the crypto and digital assets environment to meet the growing interest of global clients.