Hong Kong's securities regulator on Monday granted conditional approval to start the city's first spot bitcoin and ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the firms involved said, positioning itself as a leader in Asia for using cryptocurrencies as tools. investment.
ChinaAMC (HK), the city-based unit of China Asset Management, said in a statement that it had received regulatory approval from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) for the provision of virtual asset management services.
The company is โactively deploying resources into the development of Bitcoin spot ETFs and Ethereum spot ETFs,โ he said.
This will be done in partnership with BOCI-Prudential Trustee Limited, a joint venture of the fund management arm of Bank of China (HK) and the British multinational insurance firm.
Two other fund managers, the Hong Kong units of Harvest Fund Management and Bosera Asset Management, also said they had received conditional approvals from the SFC, Bloomberg reported.
The SFC declined to comment on individual requests.
OSL Digital Securities will provide custody services to China AMC and Harvest to ensure trading security, the licensed digital asset platform announced on Monday.
"This collaboration marks a critical development in the region's financial landscape, heralding a new chapter in digital asset investments," OSL said in a statement.
Hong Kong has been trying to advance as a regional digital asset hub, as its status as an international financial center has been affected by political turmoil in recent years and China's economic downturn.
The latest move came three months after the United States gave the green light to ETFs linked to the spot price of bitcoin, making it easier for mainstream investors to add the unit to their portfolio.
Hong Kong is also widely considered an experimental ground for including cryptocurrencies as mainstream investment tools, which are banned in mainland China.
โThe financial center is looking to establish itself as a competitor in the space competing with Dubai and Singapore as regulators open up crypto markets to institutional demand,โ said James Harte, an analyst at Tickmill.
He added that Bitcoin futures fell "around 7 percent to the day's lows before sentiment reversed" on the news from Hong Kong.
Last December, the city's SFC said it was ready to allow retail investors to buy funds that are 100 percent invested in some of the digital assets, prompting the first wave of applications from fund managers.
