ETFs
Bitcoin ETF launches on Australia’s main exchange for the first time
By Lewis Jackson
SYDNEY (Reuters) – A Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) launched for the first time on Australia’s main stock market on Thursday as fund managers launch products aimed at catering to investors returning to crypto markets. currencies after a price surge.
The VanEck Bitcoin ETF was launched with approximately AU$990,000 ($660,429) in assets on the Australian Securities Exchange and is the culmination of more than three years of negotiations with operator ASX.
The fund will not hold bitcoin directly, but will invest in the US-listed VanEck Bitcoin Trust, which launched in January. VanEck’s European subsidiary also manages 12 similar cryptocurrency funds.
Investors have poured billions of dollars into cryptocurrency ETFs in the United States after regulators approved several products in January. Hong Kong followed in April with the launch of six funds, although interest there was more muted.
VanEck Australia said in March that the green light from US regulators had triggered a surge in inquiries from brokers and financial advisers for similar products.
The price of bitcoin has almost tripled since 2023, although prices have stalled since a peak in March.
A competing exchange in Australia, run by local subsidiary CBOE Global Markets, already hosts several Bitcoin ETFs.
However, the VanEck Bitcoin ETF is the first fund to launch on the main exchange, where it will share the trailer with some of the country’s best-known companies such as BHP and Commonwealth Bank.
($1 = 1.4990 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Lewis Jackson; Editing by Christopher Cushing)