Key Points
- Harvest CEO is considering applying for Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs for mainland Chinese investors in 2 years.
- Crypto ETFs were a hot topic at the Bitcoin Asia conference in Hong Kong.
Harvest Global Investments, one of the three Hong Kong ETF issuers, is considering a future in which mainland Chinese investors could have direct access to BTC and ETH ETFs via the ETF Connect scheme, says the CEO of the company, Han Tongli.
The company said it doesn’t rule out applying for its crypto products that invest directly into the digital assets to be included in the connect program that links exchanges in mainland China and Hong Kong. He conditions the move to everything going smoothly and well in the next two years.
Harvest’s CEO Han is also the company’s chief investment officer, and he addressed the subject during a conference that kicked off in Hong Kong the other day.
ETF Connect was launched back in May 2022 and it offers mainland Chinese investors access to a range of selected ETFs that are listed in Hong Kong. This is a part of the larger Stock Connect scheme that was launched back in 2014, connecting the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges.
Potential new large investor pool for crypto ETFs
If this move takes place, the inclusion of crypto ETFs in the scheme could become a massive confidence catalyst for the Asian market, offering a new investor pool for crypto products.
The inclusion is debatable as Beijing has shown a hostile stance towards crypto so far. Most commercial activities are banned on the mainland. However, trading and ownership among individuals remains an ongoing legal question.
Hong Kong’s Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs started trading for eligible investors on April 30. Six BTC and ETH started trading on day one.
The six BTC and ETH ETFs that debuted are managed by China Asset Management, Harvest Global, Bosera, and HashKey.
During the Bitcoin Asia panel discussion, Han said that people are still skeptical about Hong Kong as it’s located in China, and people are reticent to see the spot becoming “more successful for whatever reason,” as quoted by the South China Morning Post.
However, Han sees greater potential for the market here, as it is a more neutral region with greater appeal in Asia.
He also highlighted that the local crypto ETFs could eventually grow to double the size of the crypto products that have been approved in the US, the BTC ETFs, at the beginning of 2024.
Harvest’s current goal at the moment is for its crypto ETFs to become the largest in Hong Kong by trading volume by the end of this year. The company is reportedly preparing to issue collateralized financial products based on the ETFs.
