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The six new spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in Hong Kong saw more than $80 million Hong Kong Dollars (HKD)—roughly $10 million—worth of shares traded on their debut Tuesday, according to Hong Kong Exchange data.
That makes Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, the first in Asia to allow the trading of spot virtual asset ETFs. Hong Kong Exchange noted in a press release that investor interest in virtual asset ETFs has grown since funds based on digital asset futures were first launched in late 2022. Experts have been projecting that the introduction of the new spot ETFs could bring upwards of $25 billion into the market, should they be opened up to mainland Chinese investors.
During the first quarter of 2024, the combined average daily turnover (ADT) for the three futures ETFs was $51.3 million HKD ($6.5 million), according to the exchange, up from $8.9 million HKD ($1 million) during the same time in 2023.
So relatively speaking, the six new spot funds have already outperformed their fast-growing Bitcoin and Ethereum futures counterparts among Hong Kong traders. But the new spot ETFs have made a much smaller splash than U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs made when they began trading in January.
On their long-awaited debut, the U.S. Bitcoin ETFs saw $4.5 billion worth of trading. As of this writing, the U.S. ETFs have custodied more than 215,000 BTC—worth approximately $11.9 billion at today’s prices—to back their outstanding shares.
Harvest Global Investments, China Asset Mangement, and Bosera and Hashkey each now offer a spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF. In broad strokes, the Bitcoin ETFs outperformed their Ethereum counterparts by the time markets closed in Hong Kong.
The Bitcoin ETFs shares gained about 2% in their first day while the Ethereum ETFs lost about 0.5% by the time trading closed in Hong Kong.
The new Bitcoin funds—Harvest Bitcoin Spot ETF (HGI BTC), Bosera Hashkey Bitcoin ETF (BOS HSK BTC), and the ChinaAMC Bitcoin ETF (CAM BTC)—saw for $7.85 worth of turnover by the time markets closed.
ChinaAMC’s fund dominated on its first day of trading, accounting for 57% of all the Bitcoin ETF turnover. The Harvest ETF made up 29% and the Bosera Hashkey fund saw made up the rest.
Among the three Ethereum funds—all from the same issuers—the split was roughly the same. ChinaAMC’s fund was responsible for 65% of the day one turnover, Harvest for another 25%, and Bosera Hashkey made up the rest.
