Bitcoin exchange traded funds — ETFs — are seeing a brief lull following a months-long bull run after their launch in January in the US. But BlackRock’s head of digital assets, Robert Mitchnick, tells {CoinDesk} the lull will soon end with a bang.
BlackRock has received plenty of interest in the ETFs from sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and family offices, who are looking at including the ETFs in their portfolio mix.
The ETFs have seen more than USD 76 bn in investments since their launch, with some registered investment advisors beginning to offer them to their clients.
The Bitcoin ETF space became even more interesting this week when Hong Kong launched six new spot bitcoin and ether ETFs, becoming the first in Asia to do so.
The launch was a big move for Hong Kong: “There’s a bigger game at play here: The launch of these new ETFs puts Hong Kong one step ahead of Singapore and Dubai who are also trying to establish themselves as regulated hubs for digital assets,” Antoni Trenchev, co-founder of crypto exchange Nexo told CNBC. The market potential of Asian ETFs is huge — with CEO of Harvest Global Investments, one of the firms issuing ETFs, pegging it at “double the size” of their US counterparts.
THE MARKETS THIS MORNING-
Asian markets are solidly in the green as Wall Street anticipates fresh US job data. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.60%, while the smaller-cap Kosdaq was up 0.77%, while stock markets in Japan and China were shut for public holidays.
ADX |
9,024 |
-0.1% (YTD: -5.8%) |
|
DFM |
4,140 |
+0.2% (YTD: +2.0%) |
|
Nasdaq Dubai UAE20 |
3,521 |
-0.1% (YTD: -8.4%) |
|
USD : AED CBUAE |
Buy 3.67 |
Sell 3.67 |
|
EIBOR |
5.1% o/n |
5.4% 1 yr |
|
TASI |
12,352 |
+0.1% (YTD: +3.2%) |
|
EGX30 |
26,113 |
+3.3% (YTD: +4.9%) |
|
S&P 500 |
5,070 |
+1.0% (YTD: +6.2%) |
|
FTSE 100 |
8,172 |
+0.6% (YTD: +5.7%) |
|
Euro Stoxx 50 |
4,890 |
-0.6% (YTD: +8.2%) |
|
Brent crude |
USD 83.70 |
+0.3% |
|
Natural gas (Nymex) |
USD 2.04 |
+5.5% |
|
Gold |
USD 2,311.80 |
0.0% |
|
BTC |
USD 59,275.38 |
+3.3% (YTD: 34%) |
THE CLOSING BELL-
The ADX fell 0.1% yesterday on turnover of AED 1.2 bn. The index is down 5.8% YTD.
In the green: Agility Global (+327.0%), Union Ins. (+14.9%) and Al Dhafra Ins. (+13.7%).
In the red: Rapco Investment (-4.5%), E7 Group (-3.7%) and Emirates Stallions Group (-2.4%).
Over on the DFM, the index closed up 0.2%, on turnover of AED 289.9 mn. Meanwhile on Nasdaq Dubai, the index fell 0.1%.