BNP Paribas Adds Bitcoin, Ether ETNs for France Retail Users

French multinational universal bank BNP Paribas is expanding its investment offering to include six crypto-linked exchange-traded notes (ETNs), giving retail clients in France access to Bitcoin and Ether exposure through regulated products.

The new ETNs, indexed to the price of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), will be available from Monday via standard securities accounts, according to the company. The products are open to individual investors, entrepreneurs, private banking clients and users of the bank’s digital platform, Hello bank!. The rollout may later extend to wealth management clients outside France.

Unlike direct crypto purchases, ETNs allow investors to track the performance of digital assets without holding them. ETNs have credit risk (if the bank fails, you lose money), no tracking error and tax advantages.

The move builds on the French bank’s broader digital asset efforts. In 2024, BNP Paribas arranged and placed Slovenia’s first digital sovereign bond, marking the European Union’s debut issuance of a blockchain-based government bond.

BNP Paribas join Canton Network

In September last year, BNP Paribas and HSBC joined the Canton Foundation, which governs the Canton Network, a blockchain focused on institutional finance and real-world asset tokenization.

Prior to this, BNP Paribas joined Goldman Sachs, Citadel and other major financial players in backing Digital Asset’s $135 million funding round. Digital Asset is the firm behind Canton.

Last month, BNP Paribas Asset Management also launched a tokenized share class of a money market fund on the Ethereum blockchain, expanding its push into fund tokenization using public infrastructure. The move builds on an earlier private blockchain issuance in Luxembourg.