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Australia is set to launch a wave of Bitcoin ETFs on its top exchange by the end of this year.
Issuers including VanEck Associates and Sydney-based BetaShares Holdings have applied for listings with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). The exchange, which handles 80% of the country’s equity trading, is expected to approve the crypto ETFs by the end of 2024.
Local Bitcoin and digital asset funds management firm, DigitalX, revealed in February that it has also launched an application.
These applications follow approvals and launches of US Bitcoin ETFs in January. VanEck was one of the issuers then too. In March, VanEck's Bitcoin Trust (HODL) attracted $119 million in one day after cutting its management fee to 0%.
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The US inflows “prove digital assets are here to stay”, said Justin Arzadon, head of digital assets for BetaShares. Arzadon added that the firm has reserved ASX tickers for Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.
Australia has a US$2.3 trillion pension market that Jamie Hannah, deputy head of investments and capital markets for VanEck Australia, believes could be redirected to crypto ETFs.
With self-managed super funds, brokers, financial advisers, and platform money, “there is a large enough addressable market here to get this ETF to an adequate size”, Hannah explained.
However, the launch of Bitcoin ETFs later this year will not be the first time Australia has dabbled in the market. CBOE Australia, which accounts for less than one-fifth of equity trading volume, played host to such products two years ago.
Sydney-based Cosmos Asset Management launched a spot-Bitcoin ETF in 2022 but delisted the fund in the same year due to weak inflows.
ASX is “the exchange we want to list on,” said Arzadon of BetaShares.
Hong Kong branches of China Asset Management, Harvest Fund Management, and Bosera Asset Management also announced their intention to launch their ETFs by 30 April.
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