France’s largest lender, BNP Paribas, is listing six new crypto exchange-traded notes (ETNs) tied to Bitcoin and Ethereum on its French exchange platform starting tomorrow, March 30, according to a recent announcement.
ETNs are tradable debt instruments that track an index to give investors exposure to underlying markets. They offer liquid, diversified exposure without direct ownership of the assets, though investors remain exposed to issuer credit risk and market losses.
Offered under MiFID II, the ETNs enable millions of individual and private banking clients to gain indirect exposure to crypto assets without buying or holding the coins themselves.
At launch, the products—issued by vetted asset managers—will be available to various client segments, with a phased international rollout planned thereafter.
As an early mover in blockchain and crypto, BNP Paribas has trialed blockchain use cases in trade finance and securities settlement, partnered with fintech and blockchain firms, and signaled interest in building digital asset services for institutional clients. The group also supports ongoing research into how these technologies could reshape financial markets.
BNP Paribas is a member of Qivalis, a consortium of major European banks developing a euro‑pegged stablecoin for institutional and crypto use, targeting a late‑2026 launch under MiCA rules.
BNP Paribas recently piloted tokenizing a money market fund share class on public Ethereum infrastructure. The pilot used a permissioned model limiting access to eligible participants while aiming to remain regulatory‑compliant. The intra‑group experiment seeks to test new operational workflows and assess how tokenization could improve fund issuance and distribution.
French retail investment has grown notably: roughly 2.5 million French retail investors participated in stock‑market trading during 2025, with about 1.6 million new entrants over the prior three years. If even a fraction of the roughly €2 trillion in liquid household savings shifts toward these new instruments, the capital impact on Bitcoin and Ethereum order books could be significant.
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