Australia’s leading stock exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), saw the first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) approved and commence trading, closing its debut day with $1.3 million (1.9 million Australian dollars) in trading volume.
This figure falls short compared to the United States’ spot Bitcoin ETFs, which collectively amassed $4.5 billion in trading volume on their first day, averaging around $450 million per fund.
VanEck, the investment firm behind the VanEck Bitcoin ETF (VBTC), expressed optimism about the potential growth of the product in Australia, despite the market size difference between the two countries.
“Notwithstanding the Australian market being a lot smaller than the U.S. and most of our flow being retail rather than institutional, there is a possibility that we may follow a similar path,” Jamie Hannah, VanEck’s deputy head of investments and capital markets, told Cointelegraph.
Hannah also highlighted the significant interest from both retail and professional investors in gaining Bitcoin exposure through the ASX.
“We have had a significant amount of retail and professional investors express strong interest in getting Bitcoin exposure through ASX,” he added.
On its first day, VBTC started trading at $13.24 and ended at $13.34, with a total of 96,476 shares traded during the day, as per ASX data.
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Cointelegraph reported on June 15 that Arian Neiron, VanEck’s CEO for the Asia-Pacific region, emphasized the growing demand for Bitcoin in Australia, especially through a “regulated, transparent and familiar investment vehicle.”
Neiron stated, “We recognize Bitcoin is an emerging asset class that many advisers and investors want to access.”
He further added, “VBTC also makes Bitcoin more accessible by managing all the back-end complexity.
“Understanding the technical aspects of acquiring, storing, and securing digital assets is no longer necessary.”
While VBTC is the first spot Bitcoin ETF listed on ASX, Australia has seen the launch of two other Bitcoin ETF products.
The Monochrome Bitcoin ETF recently began trading on Australia’s second-largest stock exchange, the Cboe Australia exchange.
Additionally, in April 2022, the Global X 21Shares Bitcoin ETF was the first Bitcoin ETF product to debut in Australia.
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