Report: Australia’s leading exchange could greenlight spot Bitcoin ETFs in 2021

Australia’s biggest stock exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), is likely to approve several spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by the end of the year, according to anonymous sources cited by Bloomberg. VanEck Australia and local ETF-focused fund manager BetaShares have both submitted Bitcoin ETF applications, following the trend set by the US and Hong Kong. The recent approval of Bitcoin ETFs in the US has seen $53 billion in assets under management across eleven different products. This has given confidence to Australian fund managers and is expected to generate between $3 billion to $4 billion in net inflows within the first three years. Jeff Yew, CEO of Monochrome, a crypto asset management firm, believes that demand for Bitcoin ETFs will come from fund managers, self-managed super fund (SMSF) investors, and retail investors. Currently, SMSF investors have direct exposure to Bitcoin on crypto exchanges, which Yew considers risky. Bitcoin ETFs, on the other hand, would provide regulated and safer exposure to digital assets. Monochrome initially applied for a spot Bitcoin ETF with the ASX but later switched to Cboe Australia due to the slow approval process at the ASX. Yew expects Cboe Australia to approve the application in the next few weeks.