DeFi Technologies UK Subsidiary Gets Regulatory Approval for ETPs

Valour, the UK subsidiary of digital asset company DeFi Technologies, has secured regulatory approval to offer crypto exchange-traded products to retail investors on the London Stock Exchange.

In a Monday notice, DeFi Technologies said the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) had approved Valour’s exchange-traded products tied to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) staking. The offerings, called 1Valour Bitcoin Physical Staking and 1Valour Ethereum Physical Staking, began trading on the London Stock Exchange on Monday.

“The UK is one of the world’s most important financial markets, and these approvals broaden our ability to serve UK retail investors with transparent, exchange-listed products that provide straightforward exposure to the evolving digital asset economy,” said Johan Wattenström, DeFi Technologies chairman and CEO.

The company announced in September that it would list a Bitcoin staking ETP on the London Stock Exchange, but this was limited to professional investors, in contrast to Monday’s offering, which was targeted to UK retail investors. The FCA lifted a ban on crypto ETPs for retail investors in October, prompting offerings from asset managers such as Bitwise.

The move by Valour builds upon the company’s efforts in Brazil, where it launched an exchange-traded product tied to Solana (SOL) in December. Cointelegraph reached out to Valour for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Related: Solana enters Brazil’s main exchange as Valour expands regulated crypto access

According to the London Stock Exchange, more than 50 issuers list more than 2,300 ETPs. The exchange reportedly recorded about $280 million in trading volume for crypto ETPs in December.

Largest outflows on record for crypto ETPs

CoinShares reported on Monday that exchange-traded products tied to cryptocurrencies saw more than $1.7 billion of outflows last week.

The company’s head of research, James Butterfill, attributed the change from $2.2 billion of inflows the previous week to “dwindling expectations for interest rate cuts, negative price momentum and disappointment that digital assets have not participated in the debasement trade.”