CoinShares, a UK-based digital asset management company that offers financial services and products to professional investors has urged its consumers to come forward in support of crypto ETNs (Exchange-traded Notes) against the proposed ban on it by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) of the United Kingdom. ETN is a kind of an institution-issued unsecured debt note which can be traded or held till maturity. CoinShares offers ETNs for Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and XRP.
CoinShares has posted a letter on September 23, 2019, on its website in which it has talked about the lack of enough pieces of evidence provided by the FCA to justify the suggested ban on the crypto ETN product. It has also issued an alert to its consumers that if the ban comes into effect, they would not be capable of trading such products anymore.
The firm further stated that the regulator had made little attempts to support its claims with genuine evidence. Instead, they have cherry-picked datasets for illustrating their perception of the crypto assets and ETNs, as well as the supposed harm they believe these products result in. That is the reason why the firm has resorted to its clientele to fight the matter.
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The digital asset manager has asked the customers to send text messages or emails that express their disagreement with the suggested ban to the UK regulator directly before the comment deadline of October 3. To make it a bit easier, the firm has also put up a ready template on their website. Customers only have to replace the details present on the template with their own and submit the response through email to the regulators.
Continuing further, CoinShares said that the analysis by the FCA on crypto and other associated assets showcases a lack of understanding of their value, functionality, and the motivation for why investors may seek out such products.
Therefore, the company hopes to garner strong support from its userbase in the form of submitted responses. The firm was also quoted as saying,
The more responses the FCA receives in protest to these measures, the more likely they are to see sense and abandon these proposals.
Meltem Demirors, the CSO of CoinShares, stated on the matter that the ban, if approved, could prove to be a set back for the whole industry, inside as well as outside the United Kingdom. That’s because the FCA also has intentions of working with the other regulators to make sure the ban isn’t evaded.
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The FCA, on the other hand, does not consider these products to be suitable for the retail consumers as they can’t asses the risk associated with ETNs and derivatives that reference particular crypto assets.
