Animoca Brands Chairman Yat Siu stated in an interview yesterday that the issuers of Ethereum spot ETFs in Hong Kong are currently working hard to incorporate staking functionality into Ethereum spot ETFs. The approval probability is very high, can it change the sluggish situation of the Hong Kong ETF market?
Following the approval of multiple Bitcoin spot ETFs by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in early January this year, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong also approved applications for six Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs from Bosera, Huaxia, and Jia Shi in mid-April.
However, compared to the United States, the performance of Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs in Hong Kong has not been impressive since listing, with a trading volume of only HK$87.58 million on the first day, less than 1% of the US Bitcoin spot ETF’s trading volume of $4.6 billion on the listing day. In addition, the SEC approved the preliminary application for an Ethereum spot ETF last month, further lowering market expectations for Hong Kong’s cryptocurrency ETFs.
Yat Siu: Hong Kong is expected to introduce staking functionality for Ethereum spot ETFs this year
However, just yesterday, Yat Siu, Chairman of the Hong Kong-based blockchain gaming company giant Animoca Brands, stated that the issuers of Ethereum spot ETFs in Hong Kong are currently working hard to incorporate staking functionality into Ethereum spot ETFs and are expected to obtain approval this year.
In addition, Livio Weng, CEO of the licensed exchange HashKey in Hong Kong, admitted that:
At the same time, Glenn Woo, the Asia-Pacific sales director of blockchain infrastructure provider Blockdaemon, revealed that they are currently in discussions with ETF issuers and custodians in Hong Kong to explore the possibility of providing staking services for ETFs.
Could staking bring a turning point for Hong Kong ETFs?
According to data from The Block, in this week’s trading, the Bitcoin spot ETF in Hong Kong accumulated a total trading volume of $10.28 million from Tuesday to Thursday, while the United States achieved a trading volume of $1.42 billion on Thursday, highlighting a significant gap between the two.
Yat Siu stated that introducing staking functionality into Ethereum spot ETFs could bring more capital to the ETF market in Hong Kong to change its current sluggish state.
Glenn Woo shares the same view, believing that:
Further reading:
Opinion: How big is the impact of the SEC’s approval of Ethereum spot ETF on the cryptocurrency market?
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