Financial Services Agency Discourages Domestic Offering of Derivatives Linked to Cryptocurrency Asset ETFs

On the 31st, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) expressed its disapproval from an investor protection perspective regarding the handling of derivative products based on cryptocurrency ETFs formed overseas.

This statement appears to be in response to the announcement made by the UK-based online broker IG Securities on September 30, regarding the launch of CFD (contract for difference) trading based on major asset manager BlackRock's Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.

According to a Q&A published by the FSA, ETFs that incorporate specific cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin essentially track the price of the underlying crypto assets. Therefore, CFD transactions using such ETFs are considered undesirable from a financial trading perspective...