Customers can now trade exchange-traded funds (ETFs) listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, including those for Bitcoin and Ether, at HSBC Hong Kong, the biggest bank in the special administrative area of China.
The CSOP Bitcoin Futures ETF, CSOP Ethereum Futures ETF, and Samsung Bitcoin Futures Active ETF are three crypto ETFs offered on the HSBC Hong Kong investment platform. Chinese crypto journalist Colin Wu broke the story first.
The largest bank in Hong Kong is HSBC, and HSBC is the first financial institution in Hong Kong to give its clients access to digital asset ETFs, according to Wu.
According to Jeff Feng, co-founder of Sei Labs, adding ETFs to HSBC Hong Kong’s investment platform gives users access to derivatives they could otherwise seek out on an unregulated exchange by using a VPN.
Hong Kong’s Ambitions of Crypto
Hong Kong recently launched a new licensing framework for crypto platforms to draw more crypto companies to the region as the U.S. has been closing down on the industry. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the city’s banking watchdog, is reportedly exerting pressure on HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Bank of China to allow crypto exchanges as clients. These institutions occupy a particular position as the city’s currency issuers.
It is unknown if HSBC Hong Kong‘s competitors would list crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Regarding the United States, BlackRock, Invesco, and WisdomTree have filed new or amended previous documents as the fight for a spot Bitcoin ETF continues. Similar applications have previously been denied by the U.S. authority several times, primarily because of worries about crypto market manipulation.
