Media: Australia’s largest exchange will launch BTC ETF trading by the end of the year

What’s new? In Australia, there is growing interest among institutional investors in spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), as such products are attracting significant capital in the United States. Bloomberg, citing sources, reports that the country’s largest exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), is already preparing to launch a BTC ETF.

Material by Bloomberg

What else is known? AXS accounts for about 80% of the country’s exchange trading volume. Anonymous sources familiar with the matter say it will list the first bitcoin funds from several local investment firms by the end of 2024. BetaShares, DigitalX, and VanEck, which offers similar ETFs in the US and Europe, have already applied to launch.

The ASX itself said the exchange “continues to engage with a number of issuers that are interested in admitting cryptoasset based ETFs,” but did not specify a timeline.

DigitalX Chief Executive Officer Lisa Wade expects the cryptocurrency could take up to 10% of Australians’ portfolios, given its potential as “financial rails.” VanEck Australia Deputy Head of Investments and Capital Markets Jamie Hannah believes that a significant portion of the inflows will come from superannuation funds, within which account holders can choose where to invest. Overall, the country’s pension market is valued at $2,3 trillion, and about a quarter of those assets are placed in so-called self-managed funds.

Applications to AXS are the second wave of spot bitcoin ETF launches in Australia, with the country’s first such products placed two years ago on CBOE Australia, which accounts for less than a fifth of equity trading volume.

Sydney-based Cosmos Asset Management launched a spot BTC ETF in 2022, but delisted later that year due to low inflows. The Global X 21Shares fund, launched the same year, has accumulated $62 million in assets under management.

In turn, in the US, bitcoin funds launched on January 11 this year have accumulated over $53 billion worth of bitcoins under management.

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In turn, the Hong Kong regulator approved both bitcoin and Ethereum funds. Trading of spot shares should begin as early as April 30. However, Bloomberg analyst Eric Balnchunas does not expect a large inflow of funds due to the specifics of the local market. Ethereum funds have not yet been approved in the United States.