The debut comes amid regulatory troubles in Poland, which is yet to implement MiCA.
Poland’s main stock exchange, the biggest in the eastern part of Europe, has greenlighted the trading of several investment products based on major cryptocurrencies.
The move comes amid regulatory uncertainty caused by the unsuccessful attempts of the Polish government to push through a law designed to align the nation’s crypto rules with the EU’s latest.
Exchange-traded products (ETPs) for some of the cryptocurrencies with the largest capitalization have hit the market in Poland, local media unveiled.
The instruments are based on Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and Ripple’s XRP. They are issued by the Swedish company Virtune AB and support staking.
The offerings will allow Polish investors to indirectly put money into digital assets, the Bitcoin.pl portal noted in a report on Friday.
Their trading was approved earlier this week by the Management Board of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), headquartered in Poland’s capital city.
Also known as GPW in Polish, it is the largest trading venue and most liquid market for equities, derivatives, and commodities in Central and Eastern Europe.
As of February 27, 400 companies, including 18 foreign entities, are quoted on the WSE, with capitalization exceeding 2.5 trillion Polish złoty (over $710 billion), its stats show.
According to the platform’s recently adopted resolution, four Virtune-issued ETNs (exchange-traded notes) are being launched.
These include Virtune Bitcoin Prime ETP (ETNVIRBTCP), which provides exposure to the leading crypto for an annual management fee of 0.25%, and Virtune Staked Ethereum ETP (ETNVIRETH), an Ether-based product that offers staking.
Virtune Staked Solana ETP (ETNVIRSOL), which allows exposure to Solana and offers an additional annual staking return of approximately 3%, and Virtune XRP ETP (ETNVIRXRP), an instrument providing access to Ripple’s XRP token, are also on the menu.
All of them are fully backed by cryptocurrencies stored on the leading U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase, according to Virtune, and rely on Chainlink Proof of Reserves technology to ensure the transparency of the reserves.
The WSE-listed exchange-traded products can be purchased with Polish złoty, and no crypto account is needed. This eliminates the risk of storing coins in a personal wallet or with a cryptocurrency exchange.
The arrangement makes them more attractive for clients who don’t have sufficient experience with blockchain technologies and digital assets, who can now indirectly invest in four of the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap.
The Virtune ETPs can also be purchased under IKE and IKZE retirement plans, Bitcoin.pl further noted. IKE (individual retirement account) and IKZE (individual retirement security account) are voluntary savings schemes that come with certain tax benefits for Poles.
In a press release quoted by the Polish crypto news outlet, Virtune CEO Christopher Kock emphasized that Poland is a priority destination for his company.
The Sweden-based Virtune, which is otherwise focused mainly on Scandinavian markets, manages some $260 million in assets, holding 95% of the crypto ETN market in its region, according to the report.
The financial firm intends to introduce other innovative products to the Polish market by the end of the year, including more crypto-based ETPs.
ETPs form a broad category of exchange-traded products, including ETFs (exchange-traded funds) and ETNs (exchange-traded notes).
While the funds own underlying assets, the notes are debt instruments that mimic the performance of an asset without actually holding it. Poland’s first Bitcoin ETF was listed on the WSE in September.
The future of the Polish crypto market, arguably Eastern Europe’s largest, looks rather unclear at the moment due to the failure of the government in Warsaw to pass legislation to regulate it.
A government-sponsored bill, designed to transpose the EU’s Market in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulations into national law, was vetoed twice by President Karol Nawrocki.
The controversial draft, which is now in limbo, was also rejected by members of the industry who warned it may kill domestic crypto business. But if the law is not adopted by July 1, their activities may become illegal, according to the KNF, Poland’s financial watchdog.
