Hong Kong needs to speed up approval of spot cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds after US launch, industry insiders say

Hong Kong should soon follow the United States’ lead in authorising spot cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs), bolstering the city’s ambition to become a major virtual-asset hub in Asia, according to industry insiders.

While the city’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in December said it was prepared to authorise retail access to spot virtual asset ETFs, the actual launch of such products has already fallen behind the US, according to Wang Yi, the head of quantitative investment at CSOP Asset Management, which currently runs two cryptocurrency futures ETFs.

US-listed spot bitcoin ETFs saw US$4.6 billion worth of shares trade hands on Thursday, according to a Reuters report that cited LSEG data, as investors jumped into the landmark products approved by the US securities regulator on Wednesday.

Eleven spot bitcoin ETFs – including BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, among others – began trading on Thursday, following the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s landmark approval that is expected to help bring the cryptocurrency industry closer to the more regulated world of traditional finance.