Hong Kong To Approve First Spot Bitcoin ETFs In April
Hong Kong may allow the debut of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) in April, with the first approvals likely to commence in next week, according to a media report on Thursday.
This development will identify Hong Kong as the first Asian region to offer ETFs, a development that occurred faster than industrial expectations.
The regulators sped up the process in an attempt to make Hong Kong one of the significant centres for financial trading as it lost its importance as a global financial hub due to pandemic restrictions. The financing sector also experienced a dire situation due to China’s faltering economy and Sino-US tensions.
The Hong Kong ETF is highly anticipated among the offshore Chinese financial institutions that are keen to participate in crypto asset development in the region as cryptocurrency trading is banned in mainland China.
The first ETFs for cryptocurrency futures in Hong Kong were approved in late 2022. The biggest player in the game, the CSOP Bitcoin Futures ETF, has experienced a staggering seven-fold increase in its assets under management, reaching approximately USD 120 million since September.
ETFs are garnering worldwide popularity, in January US also launched its first exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to track spot bitcoin which roughly draws about USD12 billion in net inflows, as per reports.
