Switzerland’s financial regulator FINMA has approved the first Swiss-law exchange-traded fund that gives retail investors direct exposure to Bitcoin. The product, BIT Asset Management’s Bitcoin Fund ETF, is expected to begin trading on the SIX Swiss Exchange in November under the ticker BBIT.
According to the company, the public offering is limited to Switzerland. The fund holds Bitcoin directly, making it the first FINMA-approved Swiss retail ETF focused solely on the cryptocurrency rather than a broader basket of digital assets.
A first for Swiss retail access
The approval marks a new step in Switzerland’s regulated crypto investment market. FINMA said this is the first time it has authorized a fund that invests only in Bitcoin for public offering to retail investors under Swiss law.
Until now, the regulator had permitted funds investing mainly in a basket of cryptocurrencies since 2021. In this case, FINMA drew a distinction for a single-asset Bitcoin product, pointing to Bitcoin’s longer trading history and higher trading volumes compared with other cryptocurrencies.
How the fund is structured
BIT Asset Management’s Bitcoin Fund ETF is set up as a Swiss collective investment scheme. Under that structure, the fund’s assets are kept separate from the assets of the fund management company and are ring-fenced for investors.
The product falls within Switzerland’s category of “other funds for alternative investments,” a classification that carries particular risk. That designation underscores that, despite the ETF format and regulatory approval, the underlying asset class remains outside traditional low-risk investments.
FINMA’s warning on volatility
FINMA stressed that Bitcoin remains highly volatile, even when investors access it through an approved ETF. The regulator’s approval therefore does not remove the market risks tied to direct Bitcoin exposure.
That caution is significant because the fund holds Bitcoin itself rather than using indirect exposure. Investors in the ETF will be exposed to moves in the price of Bitcoin, within a regulated fund wrapper intended for the Swiss market.
What comes next
BIT Asset Management said BBIT is expected to start trading on SIX Swiss Exchange in November. For now, the confirmed scope of the public offering is limited to Switzerland.
FINMA also noted that other fund providers have submitted applications for Bitcoin ETFs. That suggests the BBIT approval may not remain an isolated case, although no additional approvals or launch dates were confirmed in the announcement.
Source: cointelegraph.com