Russian brokerage Finam to offer notes tied to BlackRock Bitcoin ETF

Russian retail brokerage Finam is set to launch investment products tied to BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT), giving qualified investors in Russia exposure to spot Bitcoin ETFs for the first time.

Finam will start offering structured notes based on BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) on Feb. 17, the company’s head of innovative products, Anton Dorodnev, told Cointelegraph.

The new investment product exclusively targets qualified investors in Russia and will be one of the first IBIT-based structured notes with a six-month maturity period, Dorodnev said.

The brokerage had previously enabled Russian clients to invest in BlackRock’s IBIT ETF through its platform, marking a step toward broader crypto-linked investment products in the country.

Investment structure and expected returns

Finam’s upcoming IBIT bond will be denominated in Russian rubles, with the yield being calculated at the dollar equivalent based on the exchange rate of the Bank of Russia, according to a local report by Vedomosti.

Investors will receive up to 20% in dollar yields in case the price of the Bitcoin ETF at the note’s maturity exceeds the price at the time of the product launch by at least one basis point.

The minimum investment amount is 200,000 rubles or roughly $2,200 at the time of writing. The brokerage commission will be 1% in rubles.

In addition to the structured IBIT bond, Finam plans to introduce more similar products tied to Ether (ETH) spot ETFs, Dorodnev said.

Russia’s crypto laws and regulatory uncertainty

According to local industry observers, Finam’s IBIT bond presents a complicated case from a legal perspective in Russia.

While some consultants say there are no legal restrictions for similar products in Russia, others see certain risks in offering structured notes based on cryptocurrency ETFs.

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Russia’s crypto law “On Digital Financial Assets” — which entered into force in 2021 — does not view crypto assets as securities, while structured bonds are precisely securities, local lawyer Alina Laktionova reportedly said.

The law does not contain a direct ban on the use of crypto ETFs as an underlying asset for structured bonds, but it does not provide a legal basis for such products either, she noted.

Russia has been opening to Bitcoin in recent months, with the Finance Minister saying that the local legislation allows foreign trade using BTC and other digital financial assets in December 2024.

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