Spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the first crypto ETFs in Asia, have officially gone live in the Hong Kong stock market today.
Today, Hong Kong officially launched trading of Asia’s first spot bitcoin and ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs), earlier approved by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC).
The pioneering crypto ETFs on Hong Kong’s stock market include six different funds issued by three managers — Bosera Funds, China Asset Management (Hong Kong) Limited and Harvest Global Investments. All six bitcoin and ether ETFs can be traded in both Hong Kong and US dollars, while ChinaAMC (HK) also allows trading in the Chinese yuan.
The new investing products empower local investors to directly use Bitcoin and Ethereum to subscribe for corresponding ETF shares. Hong Kong currently is Asia’s first and only location to accept the two most popular cryptocurrencies as a mainstream investment tool.
These ETFs are expected to attract interest from both local and international investors, as Hong Kong went further than the U.S. with its indecisiveness about ether ETFs, presenting more variations in crypto investment opportunities. Although the new funds may not attract as much money inflows as their American counterparts, they are seen as an encouraging sign for other countries to implement crypto investing options.
In the first 30 minutes of trading on Tuesday, crypto ETFs all recorded a price rise of between 0.62% and 3.81%.
Speaking at a press conference on April 29 just before the launch of spot crypto ETFs in Hong Kong, the head of custody firm OSL Digital Securities, Wayne Huang, stated that whether the United States defines Ethereum as a security would not affect the independent decision-making of the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission, as the regulator has its own set of security definition procedures. Therefore, Hong Kong crypto ether ETFs will continue to trade notwithstanding the U.S. ultimate decision.
Han Tongli, CEO of Harvest Global, added that having in-kind trading in Hong Kong was an “obvious advantage over the United States”. In-kind creation and redemption through eligible dealers means that bitcoin and ether, instead of official currencies like the US dollar, can be used to invest in the ETFs. Han also believes that Hong Kong could be a sandbox for China to test virtual asset trading still banned in the mainland.
