The first-ever spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) issued on the European market has been classified as an Article 8 fund by its issuer firm, London-based Jacobi Asset Management.

Funds covered by Article 8 of the European Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SDFR) are those that "promote environmental and/or social characteristics." On August 29, Bloomberg reported that Jacobi Asset Management had designated its Jacobi FT Wilshire Bitcoin ETF as an Article 8 vehicle.

The fund, which debuted on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange on August 15, is the first Bitcoin ETF traded in Europe, as well as the first to follow the European Union's environmental, social, and governance investing guidelines.

According to the report, Jacobi's CEO, Martin Bednall, describes the ETF as "fully decarbonized" due to its partial investments in renewable energy certificates (RECs).

However, when questioned by journalists, academic experts stated that, given Bitcoin's mining energy intensity, the ETF should purchase so many RECs that it not only matches, but exceeds the volume of energy utilized by its Bitcoin holdings.

The Jacobi FT Wilshire Bitcoin ETF was launched in 2022, more than a year later than expected. The introduction was advertised as the first spot, or physically-backed, Bitcoin fund, giving investors access to a financial product backed by actual BTC.

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/jacobi-spot-bitcoin-etf-classed-as-environmental-investing-by-issuer

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/crypto-etf-drags-esg-wildly-070450805.html