VanEck’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) is now live on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), the leading exchange in Australia. The fund’s trading volume surpassed $1.5 million after a couple of hours of trading.
The ASX is a key player in Australia’s capital markets, handling about 80% of equity trading, according to Bloomberg. The ETF, which acts as a feeder fund for the US-based VanEck Bitcoin Trust, started with an initial seed investment of approximately A$985,000.
“[VBTC] will present the price of Bitcoin. What we’ll give investors is really institutional-grade access to Bitcoin,” said Jamie Hannah, VanEck’s Deputy Head of Investments and Capital Markets.
“There are a lot of security measures in place as well as insurance…And it’s also extraordinarily low cost,” he noted, adding that customers can access VBTC through any retail broker.
Besides VanEck, other ETF issuers, Sydney-based BetaShares Holdings Pty and DigitalX Ltd. are planning to list their ETFs on the ASX.Another major Australian exchange, CBOE Australia, already offers crypto ETFs. Global X 21Shares Bitcoin, Global X 21Shares Ethereum, and Monochrome Bitcoin have approximately $90 million combined assets.
