Australia-based asset manager Monochrome Asset Management reportedly managed to obtain the nation’s first Australian financial services license (AFSL) for a spot crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF). 

Specifically, Jeff Yew, Head of Monochrome Asset Management, reportedly remarked that the AFSL greenlight is a major development, as up to this moment, Australia-based crypto ETFs that snatched the go-ahead only function under general financial asset authorization and only hold crypto-assets in an indirect manner.

Yew further claimed that Monochrome’s crypto ETFs, on the other hand, will enable the holding of the underlying crypto-assets in a direct fashion, and is particularly greenlit by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) to carry out the task.

The Monochrome executive further shared that the go-ahead serves as a representative for a major stride forward for both the advice sector and retail investors. 

“We see choice being a good thing for investors, particularly when dealing in the regulated space, as not all offerings are equal. Investors investing in Monochrome’s ETFs will know that their funds are investing directly in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereu (ETH), and importantly within the regulatory rails established by ASIC specifically for crypto-assets,”

Currently, a precise timeline regarding the official roll-out of the Monochrome Bitcoin ETF (IBTC) is yet to be finalized, but the expected release period being in September this year, as soon as the issuance of the PDS and TMD are completed and subject to regulatory approvals.

Upon the official release of the ETFs, Yew claims that “Monochrome will focus on BTC and ETH because they are the only two crypto-assets currently identified by ASIC as being suitable for retail ETF exposure.”

Per Yew, functioning within the regulatory scope of an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) with a direct crypto-asset greenlight ensures that the fund and the issuer are subject to robust oversight from ASIC.