Hong Kong's VSFG Plans to Apply for Spot Bitcoin ETF

A Hong Kong financial services company aims to start an exchange-traded fund investing directly in Bitcoin this quarter as the city pushes ahead with efforts to develop a digital-asset hub.

Venture Smart Financial Holdings Ltd. said it plans to lodge an application with the Securities and Futures Commission to start the ETF. The regulator last month issued guidelines for spot crypto fund approvals for the first time.

“It’s a market that has huge potential,” said Brian Chan, group head of investment and product at the company, also known as VSFG. “Our goal is $500 million in assets under management by the end of this year.”

VSFG offers traditional and digital wealth management services and is among Hong Kong’s first SFC-approved virtual asset managers, according to its website.

Hong Kong allows futures-based crypto ETFs and three have listed so far: CSOP Bitcoin Futures, CSOP Ether Futures and Samsung Bitcoin Futures. They have relatively modest combined assets of about $50 million.