21Shares launches 'Strategy preferred stock ETP' in the EU

Crypto asset manager 21Shares is launching a financial product in the European Union (EU) that allows investors to gain exposure to Strategy’s preferred stock, “Stretch.”

21Shares said on the 25th (local time) it will list a Stretch-linked exchange-traded product (ETP) on Euronext Amsterdam. The listing date is the 26th, with the ticker “STRC NA.”

Stretch is a perpetual preferred share issued in July last year by Strategy, the world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) treasury company. Using the Bitcoin held by Strategy as collateral, it pays dividends of about 11.25% per year in monthly cash distributions.

The ETP will be available to both institutional and retail investors. Like Stretch, it pays an annual dividend of 11.25%. Cointelegraph reported that “the ETP is among the first Bitcoin-collateralized corporate securities available to European investors.”

Meanwhile, this is the first time 21Shares has launched a financial product linked to an asset class other than cryptocurrencies. Duncan Moir, chairman of 21Shares, said, “Through the Stretch ETP, we will expand our expertise into equity-type investment products tied to the Bitcoin ecosystem.”

Phong Le, CEO of Strategy, said, “Stretch is a capital-markets innovation that combines the potential of Bitcoin-based securities with the stability of traditional credit products,” adding, “I’m confident this model, which didn’t exist five years ago, will shape the next 50 years.”