Key Points

Hong Kong approved Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, just as expected, today, April 15.
The ETFs are managed by China Asset Management, Harvest Global, Bosera, and HashKey.
The move places Hong Kong on the path of becoming a crypto hub.

According to the latest reports coming from Shanghai, Reuters, Hong Kong’s securities regulator just approved the first spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The move marks an important milestone for Hong Kong on the path to becoming Asia’s first city to accept popular crypto products as a tool of mainstream investment.

First batch of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs approved in Hong Kong

China Asset Management, an important Chinese asset manager, stated that the unit in Hong Kong has received approval in principle from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission to provide retail asset management services related to crypto ETFs.

The plan is to issue spot BTC and ETH ETFs together with OSL and BOCI International. OSL will be the first virtual asset trading and sub-custodian partner of China Asset Management.

Harvest Global Investments’ two spot ETFs also received approval from the SFC. The two ETFs will be issued in collaboration with OSL and this could address issues such as high margin requirements.

In a statement, OSL said that via this partnership, OSL will leverage its strong infrastructure to offer a secure trading environment for ETFs’ operation, while managing the underlying assets with high precision and reliability.

Bosera and HashKey also said that the pair will collaborate to launch a spot BTC ETF, the Bosera HashKey Bitcoin ETF, and a spot ETH ETF, the Bosera HashKey ETH ETF.

The ETF will allow investors to subscribe to ETF shares using BTC and ETH. The timeline of the launch has not been disclosed yet.

New opportunities for asset allocation in Hong Kong

Bosera stated that the introduction of the Virtual Asset Spot ETFs will offer investors new opportunities for asset allocations and, at the same time, will provide Hong Kong with the status of an international financial center and a hub for virtual assets.

Last week, Bloomberg reported that major Chinese asset managers were expecting the decision regarding the approval of both Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs to take place today.

It was also reported that we might be looking at up to $25 billion in investments via the crypto-related products, according to the crypto services provider Matrixport.

The highly important decision made by Hong Kong to approve BTC and ETH ETFs comes about three months after the US SEC approved the Bitcoin ETFs in the country, triggering high interest in the crypto products and an overwhelming success.

Following a sudden drop in BItcoin’s price during the past weekend, due to Iran’s attack on Israel, now, Bitcoin’s price is surging. At the moment of writing this article, BTC is trading above $66k, up by almost 3% in the past 24 hours on CoinMarketCap.