Hong Kong to launch Asia’s first inverse bitcoin ETF

By Summer Zhen

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Asia’s first inverse Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, which allows investors to bet on a decline in the cryptocurrency, is set to launch in Hong Kong on Tuesday.

Hong Kong-based CSOP Asset Management announced that it will launch the CSOP Bitcoin Futures Daily (-1x) Inverse Product on the city’s exchange on Tuesday morning.

The ETF is expected to take advantage of rising demand to profit from volatile trading in cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin has had a bumpy second quarter, losing more than 12% since the first batch of spot crypto ETFs went public in Hong Kong in April.

“The first futures-based inverse bitcoin product to be listed in Hong Kong creates an opportunity for investors to profit from downward movements in bitcoin,” Ding Chen, CEO of CSOP Asset Management, said in a statement.

The company stated that Bitcoin has been the most volatile asset among global assets for the last 10 years, and that it will surpass crude oil and the Nasdaq 100 with volatility that could reach up to 38.3% in 2023.

Bitcoin has rallied strongly over the past few weeks on rising expectations that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will regain the White House.

It rose slightly to trade around $67,400 on Monday following U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the presidential race.

The company noted that CSOP’s inverse bitcoin product aims to deliver a return close to the one-time inverse daily performance of the S&P Bitcoin Futures Index.

CSOP launched Asia’s first bitcoin futures ETF in Hong Kong in 2022. The ETF’s market value rose above $100 million earlier this year amid a global crypto price rally, but had fallen to around $58 million as of Friday.

(Reporting by Summer Zhen, editing by Louise Heavens)