Scandinavia’s largest bank, Nordea, has shifted its stance on crypto in the face of growing adoption and regulatory clarity, announcing its customers can access an external Bitcoin-linked exchange-traded product (ETP) in December.
The Bitcoin ETP, developed by digital asset investment firm CoinShares, holds Bitcoin (BTC) as its underlying asset, Nordea stated on Thursday.
The ETP will only be offered as an “execution-only offering, meaning that customers can buy this product, but Nordea does not offer advice on it, the bank added.
Nordea has over $286 billion in assets under management, according to its half-year results released in July, along with an estimated customer base of over 10 million people.
Regulations are a key factor in the Bitcoin backflip
In 2018, Nordea announced it was banning its employees from buying and holding Bitcoin over concerns the crypto market was unregulated, and it has stated in subsequent earnings reports that it has “no risk appetite or direct exposure to virtual currencies.”
The change of heart has resulted directly from growing regulations and market maturity, the bank said, citing the European Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) as a specific example.
“Nordea has closely monitored trends in cryptocurrencies but maintained a cautious approach due to the unregulated nature of crypto-assets and the lack of investor protection and authority supervision that dominated the emergence of digital currencies,” Nordea said.
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“Against this background, Nordea remains open-minded to offering products and services to meet our customers’ needs as the environment matures.”
Demand is a key consideration too
Along with regulations, Nordea said that demand for cryptocurrencies is growing across the Nordics and was another reason for its decision.
“The market for crypto-related investment products, especially exchange-traded products, with a cryptocurrency as the underlying asset, has grown rapidly in Europe as institutional and retail investors seek to gain exposure to digital assets within established financial markets.”
Crypto ownership across the Nordic regions, which includes Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, is sitting at around 2.1 million people out of an estimated population of over 28 million, according to digital asset company K33’s March Nordic crypto adoption survey.
This figure is up from the 1.5 million recorded last year. Around 28% of all respondents also stated that they planned to buy crypto in the next decade, which K33 estimates would increase ownership to 6.4 million people by 2035.
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