On Friday, Valour Digital Securities, a branch of DeFi Technologies, announced the introduction of its Bitcoin Physical Staking exchange-traded product (ETP) on the London Stock Exchange.
This new listing marks an expansion for Valour’s yield-generating bitcoin offerings beyond mainland Europe, where it has been available since November 2024 on Germany’s Xetra market. Currently, UK regulations limit access to this ETP to professional and institutional investors; however, retail investors are expected to gain access starting October 8 due to updated rules from the Financial Conduct Authority.
The ETP is identified by the ticker symbol 1VBS and is physically backed at a ratio of 1:1 by bitcoin securely stored in cold storage with Copper, a regulated custodian. It provides an estimated annual yield of 1.4%, which enhances the product’s net asset value (NAV). This yield is generated through staking utilizing the Satoshi Plus consensus mechanism from Core Chain.
Rewards accumulated in CORE tokens are converted into bitcoin and incorporated into the holdings of the ETP. Valour has highlighted that although there may be short-term lockups during staking transactions, these underlying bitcoins do not face traditional staking risks like slashing.
The launch coincides with recent moves by UK regulators to ease restrictions on crypto-related investment products. Earlier this year, the Financial Conduct Authority began taking steps toward permitting retail access to specific crypto exchange-traded notes and products—a change that will gauge interest in regulated options for earning yields from bitcoin investments.