After a prior hold-up was cleared this week and new funds entered the ETF market, Australians will soon have more alternatives for spot cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
In specific, the most recent update came late on May 9 when Cboe Australia released a batch of market alerts stating that three funds that had been postponed will begin trading on Thursday, May 12. Cosmos Asset Management has a Bitcoin ETF, while 21Shares has Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) spot ETFs.
Cboe Australia and Cosmos did not immediately reply to requests for comment, but a 21Shares spokeswoman verified the news: “We’re listing on May 12, this Thursday. The downstream issues are resolved.”
The Cboe Australia exchange postponed the listing of all three funds on April 26, a day before three of the first crypto ETFs were supposed to start, citing “normal inspections.”
At the time, 21Shares reportedly said that a “service provider downstream,” which was thought to be a prime broker or other big financial institution, required additional time to assist the launch of the products.
The listing date coincides with the entry of a new participant into the ETF race. On April 28, 3iQ, a Canadian company offering Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), filed two offer notifications with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
The notifications disclosed that the company intends to list Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF units on the Cboe Australia market. It will provide investors access to crypto assets by buying units in existing TSX funds, comparable to Cosmos’ ETF, which buys the Canadian Purpose Bitcoin ETF.
It’s unknown when 3iQ’s funds will be launched, but with the launching of Cosmos and 21Shares funds this week, it’s doubtful that 3iQ will win the race to be the first Australian crypto ETF, with a prize pool of over $1 billion in inflows.
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