UniCredit has built its approach to digital asset investing around its advisory relationships and structured product expertise. Its work has focused on providing clients with a route into an unfamiliar asset class through products designed with capital-protection features.
In 2025, UniCredit launched its first capital-protected digital asset note for professional clients in Germany and Italy. The product provided a starting point for extending Bitcoin-linked investments to a wider audience, combining the bank’s existing product structuring capabilities with a measured approach to introducing clients to a new asset class.
The initial distribution reached only a handful of professional clients. Nevertheless, coverage of the offering prompted customers to contact the bank for information, generating leads for branch advisers and creating opportunities to discuss digital assets within established banking relationships.
Alongside this launch, UniCredit worked during 2025 on a retail prospectus and product offering. This was the principal development connecting its initial professional client business with its subsequent retail expansion. The first retail issuances were launched in Germany at the start of 2026.
Structuring exposure around capital protection
The product design centred on Bitcoin-linked certificates offering full capital protection at maturity. UniCredit used its experience in structured investments to combine participation in the underlying asset’s performance with a defined capital protection feature, making the structure the starting point for its digital asset offering.
Its work has focused on providing clients with a route into an unfamiliar asset class through products designed with capital-protection features
For the underlying exposure, the bank selected the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, an exchange-traded fund linked to Bitcoin. Its liquidity, actively quoted options and close tracking of Bitcoin were central to that choice. These characteristics supported the structuring of the investment certificates and the terms available to clients.
The choice also supported a gradual introduction of digital asset risk within the bank, with risk and compliance teams involved in developing the approach.
Putting advisers at the centre
UniCredit designed the offering around a distribution network of approximately 5,000 advisers across Europe. The opportunity lay among customers who had heard about digital assets but needed help understanding how to approach them. Providing advisers with a product to discuss connected that interest with the bank’s investment advisory capabilities.
Adviser feedback informed product development ahead of the German retail launch. At a roadshow involving about 500 advisers, more than 90% indicated that the product was needed and they saw value in it. This consultation helped establish whether the proposed investment met a practical distribution need before the bank committed further resources to developing the offering.
The product also widened the scope of client conversations. Advisers could use the investment solution to engage clients on digital assets, opening discussions in an area where the bank had previously been cautious. This gave the offering a practical role within the advisory relationship beyond adding another investment option.
Preparing systems and distribution
Supporting the offering required attention to trading infrastructure and risk management. UniCredit addressed how its risk tools and models would handle the new exposure, including certificates bought back from clients and their treatment in trading books. Selecting a liquid underlying asset supported the ability to enter and exit positions.
The bank’s issuance platform also provided infrastructure for distributing products across jurisdictions, handling issuance, regulatory notifications and supporting documentation. The platform accommodated both automated issuance and individually tailored investments.
Retail distribution required additional local preparation. UniCredit engaged regulators before launches and adapted target market conditions to local requirements, excluding investors without investment experience. That process remained country specific.
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