United Kingdom, Feb 13, 2021 /AlexaBlockchain/ – CoinShares, Europe’s largest digital asset manager with $4 billion in AUM, has added an additional layer of transparency into its new physically backed Exchange Traded Product (ETP), CoinShares Physical Bitcoin (Ticker: BITC).
CoinShares Physical Bitcoin is a physically-backed ETP fully secured by the underlying bitcoins. It enables investors to securely gain exposure to the price of bitcoin on a regulated European stock exchange. The bitcoins held on behalf of BITC are maintained in custody with Komainu, a regulated institutional-grade digital asset custodian.
To enable this attestation service for its ETP, CoinShares has integrated Armanino’s Real-Time assurance application, TrustExplorer. This blockchain-enabled solution allows investors to independently verify the bitcoin backing BITC through viewable and downloadable attest reports that are generated daily.
BITC has been well received by the marketplace with total volumes exceeding $23M in the first 14 days of trading. Through the integration of Armanino’s on-demand attestation services, CoinShares offers investors enhanced visibility into the underlying bitcoin of its BITC product. This capacity for independent verification of assets further advances CoinShares’ mission to bring tailored investment products to the digital asset marketplace, which offer unparalleled security and transparency, therefore bridging the gap between institutional finance and digital assets.
CoinShares’ Head of Product, Townsend Lansing, commented, “Our team at CoinShares is dedicated to utilising innovative technology to continue our mission of bringing trust and transparency to the ETP space. As we first pioneered with our XBT Provider product line, which has $3.8 billion in AUM, we are now bringing this same innovation to our new product line, which was built with the needs of institutional allocators in mind.”
Armanino is a top 25 accounting firm specialising in digital assets. The TrustExplorer application leverages blockchain technology to independently verify the amount of bitcoin physically backing the ETP match the Issuer’s liabilities. This unique application allows CoinShares to advance the industry by adding another layer of transparency to its best-in-class physical ETP structure.
Noah Buxton, Director and Blockchain & Digital Asset Practice Leader at Armanino LLP added, “CoinShares Physical represents an exciting capital markets innovation, and we are evermore confident that such platforms must be met and served with innovative assurance tools. Anything less would be a disservice to the potential of digital assets. Since onboarding CoinShares XBT Provider ETPs in 2020, we have seen TrustExplorer’s ability to provide highly accurate attest reporting. We are humbled to continue as an important ingredient in the recipe of CoinShares’ valuable, compliant and transparent digital asset products.”