Asia Tech Wire (Apr 10) -- The Hong Kong subsidiaries of top Chinese fund managers Harvest Fund and ChinaAMC have received approval to offer virtual asset services in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) updated the list of fund companies for virtual asset management on its website earlier Wednesday, adding Harvest Global Investments Ltd. (HGI) and China Asset Management (Hong Kong ) Ltd. (ChinaAMC HK).
The regulator approved these firms to offer virtual asset management services in addition to their existing traditional asset management services.
A total of 18 fund companies can now conduct virtual asset management in Hong Kong, according to the SFC's website.
Since the SFC announced in late December last year that it was ready to accept applications for recognition of virtual asset spot exchange-traded funds (VA spot ETFs), major asset managers have begun to move vigorously.
HGI submitted an application for a bitcoin spot ETF in late January, becoming the first organization in Hong Kong to do so. Subsequently, Southern Asset Management's Hong Kong subsidiary also submitted such an application.
In addition, ChinaAMC HK and HashKey Exchange, one of the first Hong Kong-based virtual asset trading platforms to receive a license for virtual assets such as bitcoin in Hong Kong, have entered into a strategic partnership to advance the layout of a bitcoin ETF.
The SFC had originally planned to approve a total of four bitcoin spot ETFs in the first batch, including Bosera Funds and Value Partners, in addition to HGI and ChinaAMC, a Tencent-owned media outlet reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
However, the two fund companies do not appear on the SFC's latest list of virtual asset fund managers at this time. They do not have independent licenses of their own in Hong Kong, but instead work with Harshkey Capital and VSFG, qualified cryptocurrency asset managers, respectively.
The SFC plans to announce the list of Hong Kong's first bitcoin spot ETFs to the public on April 15, sources familiar with the matter said.
Following a certain process, Hong Kong could formally launch its bitcoin spot ETFs around April 25, no later than the end of April.
If the above news is true, the approval of the Hong Kong bitcoin spot ETF is about three months after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the first batch of U.S. bitcoin spot ETFs on January 10th.
The approvals for Harvest Fund and ChinaAMC, are the SFC's latest efforts to catch up with the U.S. in the bitcoin spot ETF sector.
