Bitcoin-based Security Launches on Stockholm Exchange

The first Bitcoin-based security on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange began trading earlier today. Called Bitcoin tracker XBT Provider, the financial instrument was created by a Sweden-based bitcoin financial company of the same name, a business owned by the KnCMiner Group.

The security was approved by Sweden’s financial regulator, Finansinspektionen last month. XBT Provider’s CEO Alexander Marsh told Bloomberg at the time, “We are proud to offer the world’s first ‘Bitcoin tracker’ to be traded on a regulated exchange.”

“By enabling this easy and secure way to invest in Bitcoin we hope to have eliminated the boundaries that earlier prevented individuals and companies from being able to actively invest in what we believe to be the future of money.”
— – Alexander Marsh, CEO of XBT Provider

The new financial product will allow traders to speculate on the dollar bitcoin exchange rate, something that is known for its volatility. XBT Provider plans on bringing more Bitcoin financial instruments in the future.

XBT Tracker could be attractive to those less familiar with the financial world, as noted by  Avanza bank investment analyst, Claes Hemberg. "Young guys will probably buy it," he told Swedish news wire TT. "Bitcoin stands for a new digital world, free from the banking system. It’s almost somewhat political."

The startup behind the world’s first bitcoin-based security, KnCMiner, has raised almost $30 million in venture capital. KnC’s main business is selling Bitcoin mining hardware to customers in over 120 countries. The Bitcoin company recently opened a data facility, which it uses for mining Bitcoin, in northern Sweden last year.

Nasdaq to use blockchain technology

XBT Provider’s launch comes nearly a week after the Nasdaq OMX Group announced that the large financial technology provider, used by the world’s leading stock exchanges, would use the technology behind Bitcoin, the blockchain, to keep track of records for its Nasdaq Private Market, which handles the trading of Pre-IPO shares.

"Our initial application of Nasdaq’s blockchain technology-enabled offering will modernize, streamline and secure typically cumbersome administrative functions, and will simplify the overwhelming challenges private companies face with manual ledger record-keeping,” said Nasdaq CEO Bob Greifeld.

"Utilizing the blockchain is a natural digital evolution for managing physical securities. Once you cut the apron strings of need for the physical, the opportunities we can envision blockchain providing stand to benefit not only our clients, but the broader global capital markets."
— – Bob Greifeld, CEO of Nasdaq