After the Chinese New Year, will there be a Bitcoin spot ETF in Hong Kong? Tencent News reported that CSOP Asset Management has submitted an application for a Bitcoin spot ETF to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). However, both CSOP Asset Management and the SFC have not commented on this matter yet.
Currently, there are three virtual asset futures ETFs listed in Hong Kong, and the SFC expressed its readiness to accept authorization applications for virtual asset spot ETFs and related funds as early as December last year. Today (29th), according to Tencent News, CSOP Asset Management has submitted an application for a Bitcoin spot ETF to the SFC, becoming the first institution in Hong Kong to propose such a product. CSOP Asset Management has not yet commented on this matter.
It is reported that the SFC is likely to follow the practice of the United States and approve multiple institutions’ applications for Bitcoin spot ETFs at once. However, apart from CSOP Asset Management, no other institutions in Hong Kong have submitted applications so far. Although some institutions, such as Southern Dongying, have had multiple communications with the SFC, they have not yet submitted applications.
The financial industry in Hong Kong believes that even if the SFC approves applications for multiple institutions’ Bitcoin spot ETFs, the performance of the Hong Kong market may be similar to that of the US market. In the US market, large institutions such as BlackRock and Fidelity Funds have seen rapid growth in the scale of their spot ETFs, mainly because these institutions already have a wide range of investor groups and sufficient customer channels. This phenomenon may also occur in the Hong Kong market.
Investment managers of Hong Kong family offices have shown great interest in the Hong Kong spot ETF. Due to previous restrictions on investment categories and complicated operations, they have not directly invested in the Bitcoin market. However, they believe that the subscription scale of Hong Kong spot ETFs may differ from that in the US. In addition, compared with US spot ETFs, Hong Kong spot ETFs may increase the option of direct purchase of Bitcoin. Currently, there has been no official response from the SFC.
Will stablecoin issuance be approved for testing before March?
After the approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF in the United States this month, the launch of the first virtual asset spot ETF in Asia has also attracted attention. There have been rumors that issuers are actively preparing for this, and Hong Kong financial services company VSFG revealed that it has reached a cooperation intention with a Hong Kong fund company and is preparing to submit an application for a Bitcoin spot ETF. They hope to submit the application before the Chinese New Year and launch it in the first quarter. They initially hope that the asset management scale will reach $500 million by the end of this year.
Furthermore, Bloomberg reported that CSOP Asset Management, financial technology expert RD Technologies, and VSFG are discussing the regulatory sandbox plan for stablecoins with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. This plan aims to establish a regulatory framework to predict and test stablecoins, but it is uncertain whether all participating institutions will be approved before the end of March. A spokesperson for the Monetary Authority stated that they are preparing to launch this plan and will announce the details in due course. Rita Liu, the Chief Operating Officer of RD Technologies, stated that they are seeking to launch a stablecoin called HKDR for cross-border payments, among other purposes.