Hong Kong on Tuesday (April 30) launched six spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange traded funds (ETFs) in a historic move for the Asian crypto market.
ETFs issued by China Asset Management (China Asset Management, China Asset Management, Vocera Asset Management, Harvest Global Investments) allow mainstream investors to actually purchase Bitcoin and Ethereum. You can incorporate Bitcoin and Ethereum into your portfolio without having to do anything.
According to data from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX), the six ETFs recorded a total trading volume of HK$49.4 million (US$6.3 million) in the morning session of the first day of trading. ChinaAMC's Bitcoin ETF topped the list with sales of HK$22.97 million, followed by Ether ETF with his sales of HK$10.47 million.
When the Spot Bitcoin ETF began trading in the United States in January, its first trading day saw daily volume of $4.6 billion. In contrast, China AMC said that during the initial subscription period, subscriptions reached HK$1.1 billion (US$140.5 million), of which HK$950 million was for Bitcoin products and HK$160 million for Ether ETFs. The Block reports.
Hong Kong's Ethereum ETF stands out from the US
Hong Kong's approval of an Ethereum ETF is a departure from the United States, where the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not yet approved it, as questions persist over whether Ethereum should be considered a security.
Hong Kong's newest ETF is still in its infancy, and experts say it has great growth potential. “The market potential is twice that of our U.S. peers,” Tongli Han, CEO of Harvest Global Investments, told CNBC, adding that many Asian investors are thinking twice before investing. He added that he expects growth to be slow initially as he prefers to stay on the sidelines.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin price experienced a significant decline on the same day, dropping from over $68,000 to $61,900 in less than 24 hours. This was a 9% decline, the largest decline since the collapse of the FTX exchange in November 2022. Factors contributing to the price decline include outflows. On Tuesday, net outflows from spot ETFs reached $326 million, marking a record outflow from spot ETFs tracking Bitcoin.
