Crypto-Tracker Debuts New Securities as Digital Coins Rally

(Bloomberg) -- The creator of the first exchange-traded product that tracks Bitcoin is introducing versions for rival tokens, debuting the securities in a week when cryptocurrencies broke into a swift rally.

Stockholm-based XBT Provider AB is rolling out trackers that mimic the price of Litecoin and XRP, the Ripple token, adding to its existing instruments for Bitcoin and Ethereum to tap into an investor public that wants the added protection of a regulated exchange.

“The institutional client base is asking for more products from us as the maturity and the infrastructure of other digital assets beyond just Bitcoin and Ether has started to emerge,” Ryan Radloff, CEO of the CoinShares platform, parent to XBT Provider, said. “The fact that we’re seeing the crypto spring emerge after a long winter is just favorable timing,” he said.

After plunging more than 70 percent last year, Bitcoin’s rally this year drew worldwide attention on Tuesday when it surged more than 20 percent in less than an hour at the start of Asian trading, dragging rival coins upward too. The eruption begged for an explanation among market participants, with some suggesting algorithmic traders were behind the move.

XBT Provider’s new trackers will trade on Nordic Growth Market beginning April 5, while earlier products are listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange.

“Our mission is to aid a development and a maturity of these assets and our goal is to have these assets trading on as many professional venues as we can,” Radloff said.

XBT Provider earlier this year decided to halt the introduction of a basket of cryptocurrencies to trade on after splits in the blockchain caused uncertainty over what to include. The company is still looking to launch a series of crypto-baskets and indexes and plans major announcements over the next couple of months.

Radloff said he believes the latest rally has to do with the next halving of Bitcoin supply which is set to happen in May of 2020.

“If you study the peaks and troughs of Bitcoin, you see it move around leading up to when new monetary supply is cut in half every four years,” he said. “Around 250-300 days before one of these monetary supply halvings, you start to see bullish tendencies starting to occur in the digital asset market.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Love Liman in Stockholm at jliman1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ven Ram at vram1@bloomberg.net, Todd White, Hanna Hoikkala

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