Six spot bitcoin and ether exchange traded funds (ETFs) finished mixed in their Hong Kong debut on Tuesday amid relatively lukewarm trading, as the city tests Asian investors’ enthusiasm for cryptocurrency assets.
The debuts mark the first launch of spot cryptocurrency ETFs in Asia and come just three months after the U.S. launched its first ETFs to track spot bitcoin. Cryptocurrency is banned in mainland China, but Hong Kong has been promoting itself as a global digital asset hub, part of a drive to maintain its allure as a financial center.
Spot bitcoin ETFs launched by China AMC , Harvest and Bosera gained between 1.5% and 1.8% at the close. The three ether ETFs , , managed by the asset managers edged down. Bitcoin dropped more than 1%. The first-day total turnover of the six ETFs was about $112 million, far below the $4.6 billion recorded in the first day of U.S. trading.
Still, issuers said the funds raised before the official listing are sizable thanks to interests from both crypto and traditional investors.
China AMC said its bitcoin ETF launched with an initial size of HK$950 million ($121 million), the biggest among the three issuers.
Christina Choi, an executive director of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), hailed the product debut as a milestone in Hong Kong’s ETF market, but also flagged risks.
“Virtual assets are quite speculative and very volatile … so I remind you that such assets are not suitable for all investors,” Choi told Tuesday’s launch event.
The ETF launch also put Hong Kong in direct competition with the United States for crypto investors.
U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs have drawn roughly $12 billion in net inflows, contributing to a surge in bitcoin’s price earlier this year. But U.S. regulators have not yet approved ETFs that track spot ether prices. Local crypto giant HashKey Group expects the size of Hong Kong spot crypto ETF market could reach 20% of the U.S. counterpart in one year.
Han Tongli, CEO of Harvest Global Investments, said Hong Kong should have greater potential than the U.S. in developing the crypto assets as it can attract investors from both west and east.
In the long term, crypto ETFs have the potential to be available to mainland Chinese investors if the products are proved to be risk controllable, Han said.
Another difference with U.S. crypto ETFs is that Hong Kong’s adopt the so-called “in-kind” transaction mechanism that allows investors to buy and sell ETF shares using the relevant crypto tokens instead of cash.
Such an option should be appealing to investors as token owners “may consider the benefit of holding through the ETFs without the cost of first converting to fiat (currency)”, said Robert Zhan, risk consulting director at KPMG China.
