Harvest Fund Management is the first Chinese asset manager to file for approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF in Hong Kong

Spot BTC ETFs are approaching Hong Kong

According to Tencent News, Chinese asset manager Harvest Fund Management, through its Hong Kong division, is the first to have submitted a request for approval of a Bitcon spot ETF to the monetary authority of the autonomous Asian territory.

In this sense, Hong Kong would be increasingly closer to the launch of its BTC-based ETFs, which some analysts estimate could take place around February 10th.

Rumors surrounding the possible introduction of new financial products have been circulating for several weeks. At the beginning of January, Livio Weng, director of the HashKey cex, had stated that 10 financial institutions were already looking for a BTC spot ETF and, according to rumors reported by Bloomberg, Venture Smart Financial Holdings (VSFG) would aim to launch by first quarter 2024.

Furthermore, the managers themselves would be interested in new stablecoin solutions, with companies such as Harvest Global Investments, RD Technologies and VSFG itself already working to promote new projects. All these realities are already at work with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).

“VSFG is targeting Hong Kong as an international virtual asset hub,” said Sean Lee, consultant at VSFG. “Our dedicated division, IDA, wants to demonstrate the potential of ‘programmable’ digital money while meeting regulatory requirements.”

HK increasingly crypto hub

The HKMA is already working to draw up an ad hoc regulation, but the regulatory process seems to be already well underway, given that since December there have been licenses dedicated to stablecoin issuers in the country.

HKMA CEO Eddie Yue himself stated in the past that stablecoins could become "an interface between traditional finance and the virtual asset market", in a scenario in which they become a payment option preferred by the public .