Hong Kong Spots Bitcoin, Ethereum ETFs Launch, Issuers Expect Big Launch Day

Hong Kong is open for business as its exchange now includes spot Bitcoin and the world’s first spot Ethereum ETF, which went live at 09:30 local time.

According to the HKEX website, Asia’s first spot crypto asset ETFs are “now trading” with 14 new funds listed.

Three ETF issuers have listed products: China Asset Management, Bosera Asset Management and Harvest Global Investments under the tickers CAM, BOS and HGI, respectively.

Asia leading the way

Brian Roberts, head of equity product development at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, told Bloomberg: “We may continue to get into the physical cash asset, maybe sort of composite products, and eventually getting into maybe leveraged strategies and vice versa”.

The first step is to monitor how the latest releases develop and mature before looking at other possibilities in the future, he added.

ETF issuers are confident that the products will be a big hit in the region. The head of digital asset management firm China Asset Management, Zhu Haokang, believes that Hong Kong’s launch day will be bigger than that of the United States. At a press conference on April 29, he said:

“I am very confident that the initial listing scale of the Hong Kong virtual asset spot ETF (more than US$125 million) can exceed the issuance scale on the first day in the United States.”

“Judging by the numbers, the transactions are actually much larger than the capital inflow of the US Bitcoin spot ETF on the first day of trading,” commented Wayne Huang, head of custodian firm OSL ETF. the first day of fundraising.

Crypto analyst Willy Woo pointed out that the Asian market in number of users is larger than the US and European markets combined.

Meanwhile, PointVille founder Gabor Gurbacs said East-West Bitcoin ETF competition is heating up and that Hong Kong would not launch crypto ETFs without China’s approval.

As I’ve said many times, the East-West Bitcoin ETF competition is heating up. Hong Kong would not launch Bitcoin ETF without China’s approval. China is determined to compete with Bitcoin’s institutional capabilities. Game theory of the adoption of nation states in force. Start the game!

— Gabor Gurbacs (@gaborgurbacs) April 29, 2024

“This is the first time we will have a clear view of the popularity of ETH relative to BTC in ETF format.” said Eric Balchunas, ETF analyst.

Crypto market reaction

Bitcoin prices hit an intraday high of $64,555 just before the launch, but retreated to $63,400 at the time of writing. The asset has remained limited since the end of February.

Ethereum, which has been hotly watched since it became the world’s first local ETF, hit an intraday high of $3,244, but also fell sharply at the launch, falling to $3,148 before showing signs of recovery .

However, it is too early to assess the impact of the Hong Kong spot ETFs on the crypto markets just an hour after the launch.

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