Europe's first Bitcoin ETF is about to start trading after a 12-month wait

Bitcoin ETFs have been making waves in the US since the first ETF was approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2021. Across the ocean, however, these digital asset exchange-traded funds haven't had much luck. That said, so far, the first Bitcoin ETF is about to start trading in Europe, and it has been two years since the first BTC ETF started trading in the United States.

The first Bitcoin ETF in Europe is about to go online

Now, the Bitcoin ETF situation is not for lack of trying, as there have been applications following US approval. One of them is from Jacobi Asset Management, which has been approved as early as 2022. While expectations grew for the launch of the Jacobi Bitcoin ETF, the digital asset manager ended up delaying the launch by a year.

The market was just entering a bear market phase at the time, initially sparked by the Terra LUNA debacle, which is understandable. However, the delay will continue until 2022, until now Jacobi has announced that it will start trading.

According to a report from the Financial Times earlier Thursday, the firm is ready to move forward with its bitcoin ETF and will launch trading this month. Previously, the ETF was approved to begin trading in Guernsey.

The fact that a bitcoin ETF is now launching could indicate increased interest from European institutional players, which could help drive demand. Jacobi Asset Management pointed this out, saying the ETF is launching now because "demand has changed since last summer."

Digital asset ETF heats up

The launch of Europe's first bitcoin ETF comes as major fund managers are clamoring for U.S. approval of spot ETFs. Firms such as BlackRock, Fidelity and WisdomTree have applied for spot bitcoin ETFs so far. Even after the SEC deemed their applications insufficient, fund managers doubled down and resubmitted.

These ETFs, if approved, could spark the next bull market. Their potential impact was already apparent when BTC prices surged above $31,000 after news of firms such as BlackRock applying for spot ETFs broke.

If anything, the rise in the number of fund managers applying to ETFs has shown that these wealth managers are getting a lot of interest from clients. These clients are large investors whose entry into the space could result in billions of dollars flowing into the cryptocurrency space.