Patrick Pan, CEO of the OSL exchange, sub-custodian of bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) spot ETF funds in Hong Kong, indicated that the financial instruments could begin trading on the exchange later this month, although Until now there is no exact date.
The executive commented that the approval of the ETFs is viewed positively and assured that all parties (issuers and regulators) are working to complete the steps to carry out the launch in accordance with the laws, he told the press.
Likewise, Pan commented that trading with the bitcoin ETF will begin for a while and then trading with the ether ETF will begin.
Various forecasts have been made regarding the capital that Hong Kong ETFs could attract. Wayne Huang, head of the OSL ETF project, told Chinese press that he expects them to attract “$1 billion in a few months.”
Jupiter Zheng, a research partner at HashKey Capital, one of the ETF issuers, agreed with Huang and expects $1 billion to be added to financial instruments as well. Additionally, he described potential investors as being primarily institutional, family offices, and high-end companies.
On the other hand, Bloomberg Intelligence ETF specialist Eric Balchunas is not so optimistic, indicating that "they will be lucky if they get $500 million [in capital inflows]."
Balchunas argues that Hong Kong's ETF market "is small," just $50 billion, and local Chinese can't buy them, at least officially.
Regarding the companies ChinaAMC, Harvest, Bosera and HashKey, which will be in charge of issuing the ETFs, Balchunas says that they are small companies compared to the magnitude of BlackRock.
The bitcoin ETF managed by BlackRock reached $10 billion in market capitalization in less than three months after its launch on the stock market. It is the ETF (of any type, not just bitcoin) that reached that value the fastest in all of history.
Another factor that could work against Hong Kong ETFs compared to those in the United States is the fees they will charge. The specialist estimates that the fees corresponding to the funds are between 1% and 2%, while BlackRock charges 0.30% or Ark Invest and Van Eck charge a commission of 0.25%.
“Other countries adding bitcoin ETFs is undoubtedly an additive, but it is a nickel and dime compared to the powerful US market,” says Balchunas.
Yesterday, Monday, April 15, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) gave initial approval for several companies to launch their spot ETFs for bitcoin and ether. An event that has been expected for weeks by the bitcoiner community.
