France’s largest bank will launch Bitcoin, Ether ETNs for French retail customers tomorrow

France's largest lender BNP Paribas is launching six new crypto exchange-traded notes (ETNs) linked to Bitcoin and Ethereum in France starting tomorrow, March 30, according to the latest announcement.

Exchange-traded notes (ETNs) are debt securities marketed to investors with index tracking. Although investors face credit risk and market losses, they provide liquidity and diversified exposure without direct ownership.

ETNs introduced under MiFID II, designed to increase transparency and protect investors, allow millions of private investors and private banking clients to gain direct exposure to crypto assets without directly buying or holding the underlying coins.

At launch, products offered by Net Asset Managers will be available to various customer segments and will have a global rollout in a phased manner.

As one of the pioneers of blockchain and crypto, BNP Paribas has tested blockchain use cases in areas such as trade finance and securities settlement, formed partnerships with fintech and blockchain companies, and shown interest in developing digital asset services for institutional clients.

The team also supported ongoing research into how these innovations could reshape financial markets.

BNP Paribas is part of Qivalis, a consortium of major European banks established by Euro-peg, a stable coin for institutional and crypto use. The initiative has targeted completion by the end of 2026 as per MiCA norms.

BNP Paribas pilots a money market fund on Ethereum.

BNP Paribas recently tested a money market fund share class token on the public Ethereum infrastructure.

An initiative built on a permissive model limits access to eligible participants while respecting regulatory standards. The group's experiment is to evaluate new workflows and explore how tokenization can improve the supply and distribution of funds.

French retail investment

France's retail investment base has grown significantly in recent years. Around 2.5 million French retail investors will be involved in stock-market trading by 2025, and an estimated 1.6 million new entrants have joined the country's equity market in the past three years.

If even a fraction of the nearly €2 trillion in liquid savings held by French households is diverted to these new instruments, the capital implications for Bitcoin and Ethereum's order books could be significant.