CoinShares has entered Europe’s €26.3 trillion UCITS fund market by launching a Bitcoin mining ETF, opening up its digital asset strategies to institutional investors whose mandates previously restricted access to its products.
summary
- CoinShares has launched a UCITS platform with a Bitcoin mining ETF listed on Deutsche Börse Xetra.
- The new structure opens access to pension funds, insurance companies, and private banks constrained by existing investment mandates.
- CoinShares said it plans to use the UCITS platform to launch more regulated digital asset investment funds.
Digital asset investment company CoinShares Announce On Tuesday, it launched the UCITS platform alongside the debut of the CoinShares Bitcoin Mining UCITS ETF, a move that allows the company to offer regulated investment funds within one of the most widely used fund structures in Europe.
The first product within the platform, the CoinShares Bitcoin Mining UCITS ETF, began trading on Deutsche Börse Xetra on Tuesday. The company said the launch aims to make its investment strategies available to institutional investors across Europe, including pension funds, insurance companies and private banks that generally invest through UCITS-compliant instruments.
For CoinShares, the change is less about introducing a new investment strategy and more about removing a structural barrier that limits access to existing strategies. The company said several institutional mandates prohibit investment in debt securities, including exchange-traded products backed by physical digital assets, preventing a wide range of investors from allocating capital despite growing interest in the sector.
Using the UCITS framework, CoinShares said these investors can now access regulated digital asset investment products through a structure already accepted under their internal investment rules.
“This is not just another investment product launch. It represents our entry into the UCITS market with a platform that allows us to develop and launch investment funds regulated within one of the most popular fund frameworks in the world,” said Jean-Marie Mognetti, Co-Founder, President and CEO of CoinShares.
The company added that the platform operates on a largely fixed cost base and is designed to generate operating leverage while providing additional funds. It also said that the UCITS structure will support future launches covering both digital asset products and thematic investment strategies.
The platform targets regulated institutional capital
UCITS, short for Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities, is the European regulatory framework that governs investment funds that can be marketed across member states. With many institutional investors already allocating capital through UCITS funds, the structure has become one of the region’s standard formats for cross-border investment products.
CoinShares said adopting the framework allows it to reach investors who were previously unable to participate due to delegation restrictions rather than a lack of interest in digital assets.
The company’s latest annual report also indicates a period of financial expansion. CoinShares generated revenue of more than $165.7 million through 2025, its first full year after listing in the US earlier this year. The company’s Nasdaq-listed shares closed 2.1% lower at $4.11 on Monday before the announcement.
Against this backdrop, the UCITS platform gives CoinShares a regulatory framework in line with existing investment mandates rather than requiring institutions to adjust internal policies before exposure to digital asset strategies.
The company said it intends to build on this foundation by offering additional structured funds over time as institutional demand for digital asset investment products continues to evolve.
The launch also follows several initiatives by CoinShares to deepen its presence in institutional markets beyond exchange-traded cryptocurrency products.
Earlier this year, the firm published research showing that many traditional wealth managers still struggle to integrate clients’ exposure to digital assets into portfolio management due to internal compliance rules.
A June scan A CoinShares survey among 261 wealth management professionals across Europe found that 52% of UK financial advisors said most of their clients’ cryptocurrency holdings remained outside their scope of view. In France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, the number dropped to 25%.
The same survey found that 61% of respondents work at companies that either restrict digital assets or do not have a formal policy governing them.
At the time, Mognitti said internal company politics, not advisors’ knowledge or client demand, became the main obstacle. According to him, many advisors cannot account for cryptocurrency holdings when managing portfolios because company rules prevent them from discussing or supervising those assets, leaving them without a full view of a client’s wealth.
Such restrictions create operational challenges because advisors are expected to manage portfolios while lacking visibility into a portion of their clients’ investments, CoinShares said.
Institutional adoption continues to evolve
Institutional participation in digital assets has remained mixed over the past few months as investment flows responded to changing market conditions.
In June Research report Based on US Securities and Exchange Commission 13F filings, CoinShares said hedge funds reduced their exposure to US Bitcoin exchange-traded funds by 39% during the first quarter. The report showed that professional investors reduced their combined holdings from about 313,000 BTC to 261,000 BTC after Bitcoin fell sharply during this period.
According to CoinShares digital asset analyst Matt Kimmell, the cut is similar to previous downturns in Bitcoin, when leveraged and tactical investors typically trim their positions as prices weaken.
The same report also showed different behavior across institutional groups. While hedge funds and brokerage firms significantly reduced exposure, banks increased their holdings of Bitcoin ETFs during the quarter, suggesting that not all professional investors responded to market volatility in the same way.
Alongside market developments, European regulations have continued to shape how investment firms package cryptocurrency-related products for institutional clients.
