The crypto ETF season has been getting merrier of late. Just a day back, Pantera Capital expressed a $100 million buying interest in Bitwise’s spot Ether ETFs. The US market participants are preparing for the official launch of Ether products. Their trading is expected to go live in the window between 2-4 July.
In fact, other regions around the world are also catching up. In what is the latest development, the first spot BTC ETF went live on Australia’s main stock exchange today.
The VanEck Bitcoin ETF [ticker: VBTC] started trading on the Australian Securities Exchange [ASX] on Thursday. The AXS notably commands a 90% share of Australia’s equity market. VBTC launched with ~A$985,000 [$657,000] in net assets.
At the end of the day’s trade, the shares closed at A$20.06, up by a percent from its opening price. Data from the ASX website pointed out that over 99,791 shares were traded on the debut day.
The product is a ‘feeder’ fund
Since early 2021, VanEck had been working towards putting to sea a spot Bitcoin ETF. It was also the first fund manager to work with the regulator and exchange on the mechanics, and the first to formally file a submission for an ETF to the ASX.
The fund manager ended up re-submitting its application in Q1 this year and officially got green-flagged to launch its product earlier this week. At the time, the VanEck team asserted,
“Despite hurdles to clear in Australia, including regulatory and exchange framework challenges, along with ASIC approval, VanEck intends to lead the way in bringing the first Bitcoin ETF to ASX investors.”
The latest fund launched in Australia is typically a ‘feeder fund' that incorporates a passive management strategy. The fund provides investors exposure to Bitcoin by investing in the VanEck Bitcoin Trust [ticker: HODL], which is the fund manager’s United States registered ETF listed on the Cboe BZX Exchange.
Earlier this month, Monochrome Asset Management launched its spot Bitcoin ETF [ticker: IBTC] on Cboe Australia, another exchange in the country. Unlike VBTC, this product directly holds BTC.
In another development that shaped up yesterday, the venture arm of the National Australia Bank of Australia - NAB Ventures - revealed its investment in Standard Chartered-backed Zodia Custody.
As chalked out in a recent article, Zodia is looking forward to onboarding Australia’s native digital asset exchanges. In fact, several have already been moving assets into the institutional safe keeper’s platform in an attempt to shield themselves against stricter regulations that are likely to come into play next year in Australia.
