According to a Bloomberg report, spot bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) could be approved in Hong Kong as soon as Monday, 15 April 2024. Should this play out, ETH and BTC prices could post some gains while Hong Kong could be established as the leading digital asset hub in the Asian region.
Concealing its sources, Bloomberg noted that the timeline for the potential approval of spot BTC and ETH ETFs by the country’s market regulators isn’t fixed hence, subject to change. However, the report highlighted that both ETF products could be launched on trading platforms by April ending if listing details are worked out in time with the Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing (HKEX) unit.
The companies hoping to become the first issuers of spot-crypto ETFs in Hong Kong include Harvest Fund Management Co., as well as a partnership between Bosera Asset Management (International) Co. and HashKey Capital. The China-based asset manager Harvest Fund Management Co. was reportedly the first to apply for a spot BTC exchange-traded fund.
Read also: BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink advocates for Ethereum ETFs.
While there are no official statements on this matter from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) authorities and other parties involved at press time, the global crypto community expect these rumoured developments to positively impact the prices of BTC, ETH and other crypto assets in the near term.
Why? Spot crypto ETFs are regulated investment vehicles that shield investors from being directly exposed to the underlying cryptoasset’s volatility. Thus, institutional investors tend to be attracted to BTC and ETH ETFs, resulting in heavy fund inflows — which is good for the assets’ price. Previous report corroborates this, showing that spot bitcoin ETF assets under management exceeded $55 billion between January and March 2024. Moreover, Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matthew Hougan noted that institutional investors would likely inject up to $1 trillion into bitcoin.
Crypto market corrects ahead of halving
Recall that BTC fell to $65k on Friday, resulting in a cascade of liquidation of leveraged positions to the tune of $900M. Likewise, ETH dropped below $3,200 and is still down over 5% in the past 24 hours at the time of writing. UNI, on the other hand, dropped over 16% amidst the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (U.S. SEC) moves to sue Uniswap Labs.
Read also: Historic U.S SEC approval paves way for spot Bitcoin ETFs trading.
Overall, this loss-inflicting market correction ensued weeks after BTC reached an all-time high above $73,000. The historic rally came on the heels of the U.S SEC approval of 11 spot bitcoin ETFs in January 2023 coupled with the anticipation of the fourth bitcoin halving. The much-anticipated halving event is expected to occur after 840,000 blocks are added to the Bitcoin network, estimated for 19 April 2024.
Read also: Spot Bitcoin ETFs and the Crypto Market: The Other Side of the Coin
Credit: Ndianabasi Tom A crypto journalist and content writer who has been talking about cryptocurrency and blockchain technology since 2018, Ndianabasi is a Writer at Crypto Asset Buyer (CAB).