(Yicai) April 11 -- Hong Kong’s securities regulator has given the local units of Harvest Fund Management and China Asset Management the go-ahead to provide virtual asset-related management services.

Though not the first fund approved to offer virtual asset management services, Harvest Global Investments is the first company to apply to launch a spot-Bitcoin exchange-traded fund in Hong Kong, which differs from the previously available Bitcoin futures ETFs.

“We're waiting for approval from the Hong Kong regulator, with the product to likely land soon,” a source at Harvest Global told Yicai.

Three virtual asset ETFs are available to investors in Hong Kong. Southeastern Asset Management unit CSOP Asset Management was the first Hong Kong-based public fund subsidiary in the business after launching the CSOP Bitcoin Futures ETF and the CSOP Ether Futures ETF in December 2022.

The CSOP Bitcoin Futures ETF has gained 58 percent this year to April 9, placing it first among Hong Kong ETFs, according to statistics from data provider Wind Information. It is up 249 percent since launching in December 2022, with its net value doubling.

The net values of the other two products also rank high in the market. Samsung Bitcoin Futures Active ETF have jumped 59 percent and CSOP Ether Futures ETF 46 percent this year. The former has surged 212 percent since it debuted in January last year, while the latter has seen a return of 150 percent since its launch.

“The surge in virtual asset ETFs is mainly related to the recent surge in Bitcoin, the end of the transition period for virtual asset licenses in Hong Kong, and news that spot virtual asset ETFs will be launched,” a fund manager source told Yicai.

Compared with traditional Bitcoin purchases and investments, professional financial institutions manage Bitcoin spot ETFs, enhancing investors' trust and allowing them to benefit from price fluctuations, said Xu Weizhi, an analyst at Guosen Securities Hong Kong.

They also remove the management and storage burden because these ETFs are traded on traditional stock exchanges and are strictly regulated, Xu added.

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission said last December that it would accept applications for virtual asset spot ETFs, making the special administrative region the first place to do so in Asia. A number of fund houses are readying such products.

Editor: Martin Kadiev