Bitcoin ETPs in Europe, November 2026: Eight Products Compared, and Why the ISIN Matters More Than the Name

A bitcoin exchange-traded product, or ETP, lets you hold bitcoin exposure in an ordinary brokerage account without a crypto exchange or a wallet. In Europe these products are not funds but notes issued by a company, and their costs differ more than their names suggest. On 7 November 2026 we compared eight physically backed bitcoin ETPs on the data pages of justETF and of the issuers that were reachable. The finding that matters most is this: several issuers sell two bitcoin products, an older one and a newer one, and the annual fee differs by a factor of 15 to 40 between them. The name on your broker screen will not tell you which you are buying; the ISIN will. This guide is not a recommendation to buy any product.

The short version

• Not a fund, a note. justETF lists all eight as physically backed with legal structure "ETN" and "UCITS compliance: No". An ETN is a debt security of its issuer, which means you also depend on the issuer, not only on the bitcoin behind it.
• Fees range from 0.05% to 2.00% a year. The cheapest: Bitwise Core Bitcoin ETP at 0.05% (a promotional rate, see below). The most expensive: Bitwise Physical Bitcoin ETP at 2.00%.
• Three products charge 0.15%: iShares Bitcoin ETP, CoinShares Physical Bitcoin and WisdomTree Physical Bitcoin. Their sizes on justETF are between about EUR 1.3 and 1.5 billion.
• The trap: Bitwise and 21Shares each sell a legacy bitcoin product at 2.00% and 1.49% and a newer "Core" product at 0.05% and 0.10%. Check the ISIN.
• Not every product is open to you. justETF warns that an instrument "may not be eligible for acquisition in your country of residence". Your broker decides.

What an ETP is, and what it is not

An ETP is a security traded on an exchange that tracks an asset. The physically backed bitcoin ETPs in this comparison say they hold the bitcoin they track in custody. Bitwise, for one, states that its assets are held with a regulated custodian, segregated from the issuer's own assets, with a trustee overseeing custody arrangements, and that its product includes a physical redemption feature. That is the issuer's description; we have not audited it.

Three differences from owning bitcoin yourself, or from a US-style ETF, matter:

• Issuer risk. These are notes. If the structure fails, your claim is against the issuer and the arrangements around its custody, not simply "your" bitcoin. How strong those arrangements are is something to read in each prospectus.
• You do not hold keys. You cannot move the coins to your own wallet unless the product offers a redemption route, and where it does, expect conditions.
• Fees compound. The fee is taken continuously from the product's value, so a higher fee is a certain, ongoing cost on top of bitcoin's volatility.

Eight products, one table

Data read on 7 November 2026. "Size" is the fund size justETF shows in euros, except where we say it comes from the issuer in dollars.

Sources: justETF product pages for each ISIN; Bitwise's product page for Bitwise Core Bitcoin ETP; 21Shares' product page for the Core product, whose fee, size and ISIN also appear on justETF. For the two Core products, justETF and the issuers give slightly different launch dates (Bitwise: 5 and 22 April 2024; 21Shares: 28 and 29 June 2022) and sizes in different currencies, so we show both sizes and the month only. We could not read the iShares, WisdomTree, CoinShares fee pages or VanEck's own page, so those rows rest on justETF alone.

Two things in the table to read carefully

• The 0.05% is not permanent. Bitwise's page says the fee is cut to 0.05% until 31 December 2026 and that "from 1 January 2027, the TER will be 0.14%", referring readers to the official bondholder notice. Compare on the post-promotion fee, 0.14%, if you plan to hold beyond the year. The other fees in the table are those shown on justETF on 7 November; fees can also be temporarily reduced, and we could not check each issuer's terms.
• Size is not safety. A larger product usually trades more easily, but its size says nothing about the issuer's strength. Size can also fall quickly if investors leave.

The old-versus-new trap, in numbers

Bitwise and 21Shares both sell two physically backed bitcoin ETPs. The names are close; the fees are far apart. On the same investment of 10,000 euros at a constant value, simple arithmetic gives these yearly costs:

Our arithmetic; it ignores price changes and trading costs. Over ten years at a constant value, 2.00% against 0.15% is roughly EUR 1,850 on EUR 10,000, which is why the ISIN check is worth thirty seconds.

How to check before you buy

1. Search by ISIN, not by name. Paste the ISIN into your broker. Make sure the product that comes up is the one you meant.
2. Read the key information document and prospectus. Look for the fee (including any promotional period), the issuer, how the bitcoin is held and who holds it, and any redemption rights.
3. Check whether you can buy it. justETF flags products that may not be available in your country, and brokers decide which they offer.
4. Compare the total cost, including the broker's order fee and the spread on the exchange where you trade.
5. Know the tax treatment in your country before you buy; see below.

Tax: we give no rate

An earlier version of this guide stated one tax rate for all bitcoin ETPs in Germany. We have removed it. justETF's own tax-status label for Germany differs between the products above (most show "Physically backed & delivery option", iShares shows "No tax rebate"). Those labels are an aggregator's summary, not tax advice or law. How a bitcoin ETP is taxed depends on your country, on the product's terms and on your personal situation. Ask a tax adviser or read your tax authority's guidance, and see our crypto tax return guide for how to prepare your records.

ETP, direct holding or something else

• An ETP suits people who want exposure in a brokerage account and accept issuer risk and an ongoing fee.
• Direct holding gives control of the coins and puts the security burden on you; see our hardware wallet guide. Holding on an exchange carries its own risks, shown by the $6.3 billion Binance theft (our investigation).
• Neither removes price risk. For where bitcoin stands now and what the ETF flow data does and does not show, see Bitcoin as an investment in November 2026.

What we could not verify

• Fee, size and launch data for iShares, WisdomTree, CoinShares and VanEck on the issuers' own pages: those pages were blocked or lacked the figures, so those rows rely on justETF.
• Whether the iShares, WisdomTree or CoinShares fees are partly or wholly temporary reductions.
• Which of these products your broker offers in your country, and under which tax treatment.
• How each issuer's custody and redemption terms work in practice. We have not audited them.
• Whether other bitcoin ETPs, including products listed on specific national exchanges, exist beyond these eight; this is a comparison of the ones we could check, not a complete market survey.

Frequently asked questions