Exchange-Traded Products for XRP, Litecoin Go Live for EU Investors

Exchange-traded products (ETPs) tied to the prices of the cryptocurrencies XRP and litecoin have gone live on the Nordic Growth Market, a subsidiary of the Borse Stuttgart exchange.

Announced Thursday, the four ETPs (two for XRP, two for Litecoin) are available to investors based in the European Union, according to XBT Provider, the firm behind the products.

XBT Provider, which is based in Stockholm, has launched a series of investment products tied to the prices of cryptocurrencies since 2015, when its bitcoin-connected ETP went live on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange. It later debuted a similar product tied to the price of ether, the native cryptocurrency of the ethereum network.

The idea behind such products is to provide investors with an avenue for gaining exposure to cryptocurrencies but without actually purchasing them directly.

“For traditional investors who are interested in trading, and already have accounts with brokers such as Avanza or Nordnet, but may not care to set up new accounts with new, often unregulated, crypto exchanges, two new crypto assets are now available," Ryan Radloff, the CEO of XBT Provider parent company CoinShares, said in a statement. "This is another important step in the professionalization of the infrastructure around this asset class.”

To date, XBT Provider has issued eight such products.

In the case of XRP, it represents the second time ETPs tied to the cryptocurrency went live this week. On April 2, SIX, Switzerland’s primary stock exchange, saw an ETP developed by Amun AG become available to investors.

Trading charts image via Shutterstock