The Bitcoin Tracker One (BTO) certificate is issued by Swedish company XBT Provider AG. Last month, the certificate was authorized by Sweden's financial supervisory authority Finansinspektionen.
"We are proud to offer the world’s first Bitcoin tracker to be traded on a regulated exchange," CEO of XBT Provider Alexander Marsh said.
BTO allows traders to invest in bitcoins and secure profits from the underlying asset nominated in the US dollar.
"By enabling this easy and secure way to invest in Bitcoin we hope to have eliminated the boundaries that earlier prevented individuals and companies from being able to actively invest in what we believe to be the future of money," he added.
Thus, BTO is the world’s first financial instrument which allows investing in the digital currency without buying it.
"Of course, young people will buy it. Bitcoin is a whole new digital world, free of any banking system. This event has political meaning," he claimed.
"Bitcoin certificates are securities which can easily be traded by anyone through their account, even from home. It is much less expensive because you don’t need sellers on spot. I think the trading volume will grow," Hemberg added.
Nevertheless, the economist warned about certain serious risks related to Bitcoins.
"I’m worried about people thinking that bitcoin has a fixed value. Actually, its real value is kind of an agreement between the seller and the buyer," he said.
According to the expert, despite the fact that recently Bitcoin and everything related to it have become more transparent, there are still some high risks.
"You shouldn’t invest in Bitcoin as much as you would bet at races. You can win, but also you can lose. Fortunately, people are more reasonable now. If bitcoin trading had started in 2013, a surge of hysteria would have swept over the market. However, now there is still the risk that someone would buy too much bitcoins due to political reasons," Hemberg concluded.
Bitcoin is a decentralized virtual currency which is emitted through performing hash algorithms. The system works without a central repository or single administrator. The currency can be used to pay for services and goods online. The exchange rate of the cryptocurrency often depends on the stock exchange where it is traded.
