Summary
- Nordea Bank said it is reversing its former anti-cryptocurrency policy and will offer a Bitcoin ETP to customers from December.
- The decision is seen as a strategic shift driven by regulatory clarity and increased investor demand.
- Nordea said it plans to support customers to trade directly in line with the maturation of the crypto asset market and regulatory developments.
Nordea, the largest bank in Northern Europe, said it will reverse its former anti-cryptocurrency policy and provide a Bitcoin (BTC)-linked exchange-traded product (ETP) to customers starting in December.
On the 29th (local time), according to Cointelegraph, Nordea said in a statement, "Customers will be able to access the Bitcoin ETP launched by crypto asset manager CoinShares." The product holds Bitcoin as its underlying asset, and Nordea plans to allow customers to trade it directly without investment advice.
Nordea manages US$286 billion in assets and has a customer base of over 10 million. The decision is interpreted as a strategic shift driven by regulatory clarity and growing investor demand, amid the accelerating institutionalization of the crypto asset market.
Previously, Nordea had been a prominent anti-crypto asset institution that banned employees from holding Bitcoin, saying, "The crypto asset market is unregulated and lacks protection from supervisory authorities." For years afterward, it maintained a cautious stance, saying, "There is no direct investment exposure to crypto assets."
However, this change in position is seen as resulting from progress in market formalization, such as the EU's implementation of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA). The bank explained, "We have closely watched the maturation of the crypto asset market and the development of the regulatory environment," and added, "We now consider it the time to offer related products to meet customer demand."
Son Min
sonmin@bloomingbit.ioHello I’m Son Min, a journalist at BloomingBit
