Inflow into the Australian spot BTC ETF amounted to 1 bitcoin on the first day of trading

What’s new? On June 4, the country’s first spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) was launched on the Cboe Australia stock exchange. The issuer of the fund under the ticker IBTC is the investment company Monochrome Asset Management. According to an analyst under the nickname HODL15Capital, at the end of the first day of trading, inflows into IBTC totaled just 1 bitcoin or about $70 000.

Source: x.com

What else is known? For comparison, in the United States, at the end of the first day of trading on January 11, the smallest inflow was 21,3 BTC worth $991 480, the BTCW fund from issuer WisdomTree demonstrated this result. The best result among 10 funds launched that day was demonstrated by the investment company Fidelity: its ETF under the ticker FBTC attracted $226,97 million or 4865 coins.

Unlike US ETFs, Australian funds can redeem shares in kind (i.e. in bitcoins).

There were already several exchange-traded products (ETPs) offering access to bitcoin in Australia prior to IBTC’s launch. However, Monochrome is the first to be approved under the new crypto asset licensing category created under the Australian Financial Services (AFS) licensing rules in 2021. The product launch has been approved by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

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IBTC has become Australia’s first ETF to hold bitcoins directly. According to the company, assets are stored on a cold wallet that is not connected to the internet using a custodial solution that meets institutional custody standards.

Monochrome also noted that before IBTC, Australian investors could only invest in bitcoin through offshore products or ETFs that indirectly hold the asset, both of which are exempt from investor protection rules under the AFS crypto asset licensing regime.

Monochrome CEO Jeff Yew said in comments to Cointelegraph on the eve of the launch that he expects interest in the product to be high. He confirmed that the company is ready to create and launch a spot ETH ETF and is exploring other opportunities in the digital asset sector to meet investor demand.

“This milestone marks a significant step in our journey empower investors with the tools and confidence to navigate the digital financial landscape,” the company said ahead of the launch.

Source: x.com

Spot crypto funds based on BTC and ETH were launched in Hong Kong at the end of April, raising over $300 million in the first week, but by the end of May, weekly outflows totaled $29 million. In the previous week, investors had invested only $1,7 million in local crypto funds.