Australia’s leading stock exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), has approved its first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), which closed its first day of trading with a trading volume of $1.3 million. This is significantly lower than the debut trading day of spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs in the United States, which saw a total trading volume of $4.5 billion across 10 funds, averaging around $450 million each.
Despite the difference in market size, investment firm VanEck, the issuer of the VanEck Bitcoin ETF (VBTC), is optimistic that the product will experience similar growth to spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States. Jamie Hannah, VanEck’s deputy head of investments and capital markets, stated that although the Australian market is smaller and primarily retail-focused, there is a possibility of following a similar path.
Hannah further mentioned that there has been significant interest from both retail and professional investors in gaining exposure to Bitcoin through ASX. On the first day of trading, VBTC opened at $13.24 and closed at $13.34, with a total of 96,476 shares traded throughout the day, according to ASX data.
VanEck’s CEO in the Asia-Pacific region, Arian Neiron, highlighted the growing demand for Bitcoin in Australia, particularly through a regulated and transparent investment vehicle. Neiron emphasized that VBTC simplifies access to Bitcoin by managing the complexities of acquiring, storing, and securing digital assets.
Although this is the first spot Bitcoin ETF listed on ASX, two other Bitcoin ETF products have already been launched in Australia. The Monochrome Bitcoin ETF was recently approved and began trading on the Cboe Australia exchange, the country’s second-largest stock exchange. Additionally, the Global X 21Shares Bitcoin ETF became the first Bitcoin ETF product to debut in Australia in April 2022.