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The prominent French bank BNP Paribas has announced the introduction of six exchange-traded notes (ETNs) linked to cryptocurrencies. The value of these notes will be tied to the prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum, and they will be available for purchase starting Monday, March 30.
The bank indicated that crypto notes can be acquired through standard brokerage accounts established via its French branch. These products are accessible to individual investors, entrepreneurs, private banking clients, and users of the BNP Hello bank! digital platform. In the future, the program may be extended to clients of branches outside of France, as promised by BNP Paribas.
An ETN (Exchange-Traded Note) is a debt instrument issued by a financial entity. Essentially, it represents an unsecured debt obligation: the investor does not gain direct ownership of the cryptocurrency asset but instead obtains a promise from the issuer to pay returns that correspond to the performance of Bitcoin and Ethereum (minus fees) at the time of note redemption or sale. The primary risk associated with this instrument is that investors may lose their funds in the event of the bank’s bankruptcy.
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Major European banks have limited experience in issuing exchange-traded notes linked to cryptocurrencies. In fact, among notable players, only ING Germany, in collaboration with Bitwise and VanEck, offers such a product. In October, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) lifted a ban on ETNs that had been in place since 2021.
In 2024, BNP Paribas issued Slovenia’s first digital sovereign bond, marking the inaugural issuance of a government bond on a blockchain within the European Union. Last September, BNP Paribas, alongside HSBC, joined the Canton Foundation, an organization that manages the Canton blockchain network. This platform focuses on corporate finance and the tokenization of real assets.
Last month, BNP Paribas Asset Management launched tokenized shares of a money market fund on the Ethereum blockchain. Previously, the bank had conducted similar issuances on a private blockchain in Luxembourg.
BNP Paribas, as part of a consortium of banks, is working on the development of a euro-pegged stablecoin, which aims to become a “killer” of USDT.
