According to Bloomberg, Venture Smart Financial Holdings Ltd. (VSFG), a Hong Kong financial services company, plans to submit an application to the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong to launch a Bitcoin ETF in the first quarter.
Brian Chan, head of investments and products at VSFG, stated that it is a huge market potential, with a goal to reach $500 million in assets under management by the end of this year.
As per the website, VSFG offers traditional and digital wealth management services and is one of the first virtual asset management companies approved by the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong.
The Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong recently issued guidelines for spot cryptocurrency fund approvals last month, currently allowing futures-based cryptocurrency ETFs to list. Three futures ETFs that have been listed so far include the “Samsung Bitcoin Futures Active ETF” by Samsung Asset Management (Hong Kong) Limited, and the “CSOP Asset Management Southern Finance Bitcoin Futures ETF” and “Southern Finance Southern Finance Ethereum Futures ETF” by CSOP Asset Management.
Additionally, Bloomberg reported that Samsung Asset Management stated that they would not “rule out exploring the possibility of launching a spot ETF,” while CSOP Asset Management did not respond to requests for comments.
The Securities and Futures Commission stated that the approval process for spot ETFs may take several weeks to months, in addition to the guidelines issued in December, and will not make any further comments. Serra Wei, CEO of digital asset custody company Aegis Custody, mentioned that the company is in talks with four asset management companies regarding launching spot cryptocurrency investment products in Hong Kong. Wei also noted that the regulatory requirements in Hong Kong may lead to issuers charging higher fees compared to the low management fees of many new US spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Rebecca Sin, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, stated that CSOP Asset Management may be in a leading position in the competition for digital asset spot ETFs in the Asia-Pacific region. She pointed out that among the current futures-based digital asset ETFs in Hong Kong, products from CSOP Asset Management have attracted the majority of managed funds.