Bitcoin.com Podcast: Bitcoin Investment Funds with Ransu Salovaara

Check out the latest Bitcoin.com podcast episode, out now. This week, Gavin Knight talks to Revoltura CEO Ransu Salovaara. Gibraltar-based Revoltura creates “publicly traded, EU passported, disruptive investment products”, including Europe’s first Bitcoin ETI (exchange-traded instrument).

Also read: The Upcoming Launch of Anonymous Project Zcash

BitcoinETI trades on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse, and is for “sophisticated and professional investors only”.

In the interview, Finland’s Salovaara describes how a knowledgable friend once said he was “an idiot” if he didn’t get into Bitcoin. A media executive turned bond trader, he talks about his experiences investing in blockchain projects and building products for others.

Why Investors Can Buy Bitcoin ETIs Right Now

Many will already be aware of several efforts in other countries to establish Bitcoin-based ETIs and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Both allow investors to own Bitcoin-backed assets without owning any Bitcoin itself.

While these often remain in regulatory limbo for long periods. However Salovaara says the ETI, a uniquely European product, wraps unregulated products into one publicly-traded instrument. This means his company is able to offer an ETI even as regulated ETFs remain unavailable.

Salovaara details how ETIs are now bigger business than hedge funds. Although not available to just any retail investor, most European brokerages can offer BitcoinETI to their customers.

Digital Gold, Funds, Regulators and Banks

That’s not to say setting up the ETI was easy or simple. Revoltura’s existing relationships with brokerages and exchange representatives proved vital.

Are European jurisdictions more open to Bitcoin investments than the US? Smaller, more independent financial jurisdictions like Gibraltar and Isle of Man permit more innovation, Salovaara says. He has some colorful words to describe the US SEC.

He also talks about Bitcoin’s under-recognized potential, and why its so-called anarchistic qualities shouldn’t mean Bitcoin businesses can’t engage banks. Recent reports paint a more favorable Bitcoin image, and it’s attracting a new investor class.

Ransu Salovaara is also doing an AMA session on the Bitcoin.com forums today. If you have any other questions, head over there and ask away!

You can check out the full episode here.

Subscribe to the Bitcoin.com podcast for Gavin’s interviews with cryptocurrency luminaries, which we’ll be publishing more regularly from now on.