The quantity of assets under management is still very small in comparison to the billions of dollars that U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs drew in January.
Upon their launch on April 30, Bitcoin and Ether ETFs in Hong Kong attracted a total of assets exceeding $200 million.
The Bosera HashKey spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs have amassed 964 Bitcoin and 4,290 Ether, respectively, accounting for a total of $71.94 million in assets under management, according to data given by Arkham Intelligence. Spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs launched by ChinaAMC have gathered a total of $123.61 million in assets, according to Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg.
As of the time of publication, Harvest Global, the third ETF issuer, had not updated the asset management data for its spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. All told, these two ETFs have generated $23 million in turnover.
The amount of assets requested is tiny compared to their American equivalents, where spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) drew roughly $4 billion in assets under management in their first week of launch and $4.5 billion in volume on January 12—the first day of Wall Street trading.
Balchunas stated, “We tried to warn everyone to lower expectations re[garding] HK.” Nevertheless, if you translate the figures, this was HUGE: For instance, the ChinaAMC bitcoin ETF raised $123 million on its first day of trading, placing it in the top 20% overall and sixth out of 82 ETFs introduced in the previous three years in Hong Kong, he continued.
Importantly, non-Hong Kong nationals can also subscribe for or buy units in the ETFs provided they satisfy local regulatory criteria, such as passing customer due diligence, according to a statement made by HashKey. Furthermore, unlike their American counterparts, investors in Hong Kong crypto ETFs can immediately subscribe for ETF units using BTC and ETH, and vice versa.
A survey released on April 28 by the Hong Kong-regulated cryptocurrency exchange OSL found that 76.9% of the city’s crypto-savvy population intended to purchase the new spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs. Gary Tiu, executive director and head of regulatory affairs at OSL, said, “This positive investor sentiment powerfully points to the growing acceptance and importance of digital assets in the region’s economy, and Hong Kong is once again marking its place as the digital asset hub.”
Despite the excitement, only the estimated 6.4 million adult citizens of Hong Kong can currently access the cryptocurrency ETFs. Currently, access to the new ETFs is restricted to mainland Chinese investors—of which there are more than one billion—who do not hold a Hong Kong residency visa.