Asia's first spot bitcoin and ether ETFs make lukewarm Hong Kong debut

By Summer Zhen and Samuel Shen

HONG KONG (Reuters) -Six spot bitcoin and ether exchange traded funds (ETFs) finished mixed in their Hong Kong debut on Tuesday amid relatively lukewarm trading, as the city tests Asian investors' enthusiasm for cryptocurrency assets.

The debuts mark the first launch of spot cryptocurrency ETFs in Asia and come just three months after the U.S. launched its first ETFs to track spot bitcoin.

Cryptocurrency is banned in mainland China, but Hong Kong has been promoting itself as a global digital asset hub, part of a drive to maintain its allure as a financial centre.

Spot bitcoin ETFs launched by China AMC, Harvest and Bosera gained between 1.5% and 1.8% at the close. The three ether ETFs managed by the asset managers edged down.

Bitcoin dropped more than 1%.

The first-day total turnover of the six ETFs was about $112 million, far below the $4.6 billion recorded in the first day of U.S. trading.

Still, issuers said the funds raised before the official listing are sizable thanks to interests from both crypto and traditional investors.

China AMC said its bitcoin ETF launched with an initial size of HK$950 million ($121 million), the biggest among the three issuers.

Christina Choi, an executive director of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), hailed the product debut as a milestone in Hong Kong's ETF market, but also flagged risks.

"Virtual assets are quite speculative and very volatile ... so I remind you that such assets are not suitable for all investors," Choi told Tuesday's launch event.

The ETF launch also put Hong Kong in direct competition with the United States for crypto investors.

U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs have drawn roughly $12 billion in net inflows, contributing to a surge in bitcoin's price earlier this year. But U.S. regulators have not yet approved ETFs that track spot ether prices.

Local crypto giant HashKey Group expects the size of Hong Kong spot crypto ETF market could reach 20% of the U.S. counterpart in one year.

Han Tongli, CEO of Harvest Global Investments, said Hong Kong should have greater potential than the U.S. in developing the crypto assets as it can attract investors from both west and east.

In the long term, crypto ETFs have the potential to be available to mainland Chinese investors if the products are proved to be risk controllable, Han said.

COMPETITION

Another difference with U.S. crypto ETFs is that Hong Kong's adopt the so-called "in-kind" transaction mechanism that allows investors to buy and sell ETF shares using the relevant crypto tokens instead of cash.

Such an option should be appealing to investors as token owners "may consider the benefit of holding through the ETFs without the cost of first converting to fiat (currency)", said Robert Zhan, risk consulting director at KPMG China.

Some analysts expect the majority of initial inflows will come from local retail investors given cost concerns.

The management fee of the Hong Kong crypto spot ETFs, ranging between 0.3% to 0.99%, is much higher than the current U.S. listed ones, due to the limited number of regulated service providers under the city's strict legal framework.

Currently Hashkey and OSL are the only two approved trading platforms in Hong Kong.

"If Hong Kong SFC approves more participants or trading platforms in the long run, it will make the costs lower and more competitive," said Alex Chiu, senior strategist of ETF Business at Value Partners.

Bitcoin has gained roughly 50% this year and hit an all-time high of $73,803 in March. It was trading at around $62,000 on Tuesday. Ether has risen more than 30% year-to-date.

($1 = 7.8253 Hong Kong dollars)

(Reporting by Summer Zhen and Sam Shen; Editing by Edwina Gibbs, Lincoln Feast and Alison Williams)