BlackRock has announced its widely anticipated entry into Europe’s cryptocurrency exchange-traded product (ETP) market with a physically backed bitcoin strategy.

The iShares Bitcoin ETP (IB1T) debuts with total expense ratio (TER) of 0.15% but this will rise to 0.25% at year-end when the temporary fee waiver ends.

Domiciled in Switzerland and backed by bitcoin held in cold storage through Coinbase, IB1T has begun trading on Deutsche Boerse, Euronext Paris and Euronext Amsterdam.

The ticker mirrors that of the firm’s US-listed bitcoin ETF – the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) – which at $50.7bn in assets under management (AUM) is around three times the size of the second largest US spot bitcoin ETF.

The US regulator’s decision to approve bitcoin ETFs in January 2024 helped power the cryptocurrency to new highs and it received a fresh boost in November when Donald Trump, who is thought to have a favourable stance on digital assets, was elected as President.

Bitcoin broke through the $100,000 mark for the first time in December but has been under pressure in recent weeks, currently trading around $87,000.

The world’s largest asset manager said the decision to expand its crypto ETP offering to Europe was grounded in data. A recent survey conducted in partnership with Focal Data found that 75% of professional investors would be interested in a bitcoin ETP within the next two years.

Jane Sloan (pictured), EMEA head of global product solutions at BlackRock, said: “With 25 million cryptocurrency investors across Europe, we believe ETPs have an important role to play to build a bridge between crypto and traditional finance through their efficiency and convenience.

“Alongside ease of access, the iShares Bitcoin ETP is built to provide institutional grade security for bitcoin holdings for investors in Europe.”

With a TER of 0.25%, BlackRock comes in at the market rate for physical bitcoin ETPs in Europe with CoinShares, WisdomTree and Invesco all recently dropping their fees to that level as part of a fee war in the space.

Europe’s crypto ETP market remains substantially smaller than in the US, with the largest product housing just $1.3bn in AUM.

Earlier this month, white-labeler HANetf unveiled Europe’s first leveraged bitcoin and Ethereum ETCs.