Hong Kong’s drive to become a digital asset hub is gaining momentum with the recent approval of several digital asset exchange-traded funds (ETFs). China Asset Management, Harvest Global, Bosera, and HashKey are among the asset managers that have received approval from Hong Kong’s top financial regulator.
These ETFs will allow investors to gain exposure to spot Bitcoin (BTC) and spot Ether (ETH). OSL and BOCI International will collaborate with China Asset Management to issue the spot BTC and ETH ETFs. Harvest Global Investments will also work with OSL to launch two spot digital asset ETFs.
Bosera Asset Management and HashKey Capital have received conditional approval to launch two spot digital asset ETFs as well. The Bosera HashKey BTC ETF and the Bosera HashKey Ether ETF aim to provide investors with new asset allocation opportunities.
These developments highlight Hong Kong’s push to establish itself as an international financial center and a hub for virtual assets. While China has banned digital asset trading and mining, Hong Kong has been actively embracing blockchain and digital asset technology.
In recent years, Hong Kong has introduced regulations to enhance its digital asset framework and has expressed interest in becoming a crypto hub. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has laid out plans for regulating stablecoins, while the Securities and Futures Commission has proposed rules for digital asset trading platforms.
Moreover, Hong Kong has launched initiatives like Project Ensemble to explore the use of blockchain in central bank digital currency and has announced guidelines for commercial lenders adopting distributed ledger technology.
The approval of digital asset ETFs further solidifies Hong Kong’s position as a progressive player in the digital asset space. It remains to be seen how China will respond to Hong Kong’s growing embrace of blockchain and digital assets.