Australia to Get Second Spot Bitcoin ETF on ASX

Perth-based crypto fund manager DigitalX said Monday it has received regulatory approval to begin listing its spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund on the country’s largest stock exchange as early as this week.

The DigitalX spot Bitcoin ETF (BTXX) will become the Australian Securities Exchange’s second, following VanEck’s listing on June 20.

The product will provide ASX customers with direct access to Bitcoin “via a regulated and liquid fund structure,” DigitalX CEO Lisa Wade said in a statement.

Trading will commence on Thursday at 8:00 pm ET with K2 Assessment Management acting as the “Responsible Entity and Issuer.” Digital asset investment firm 3iQ and DigitalX will help promote and distribute the ETF domestically and abroad.

The ASX, which accounts for roughly 80% of the country’s equities trading volume, is considered by investors to be more liquid and broadly accepted than its main rival, Cboe Australia.

Getting a listing on the ASX typically involves ensuring that the ETF meets all regulatory requirements, including disclosures, financial standards, and compliance with exchange rules.

Once approved for quotation, the ETF is officially listed on the exchange, allowing public trading to commence on the specified start date.

Unlike VanEck’s VBTC, which provides exposure to Bitcoin by investing in the VanEck Bitcoin Trust (HODL), a U.S.-listed ETF on the Cboe exchange, DigitalX’s offering is not beholden to U.S. politics, according to a person familiar with the matter.

That should insulate Australian investors from developments in the U.S., as BTXX is only answerable to Australia’s domestic rules and laws, unlike other Bitcoin fund offerings, they said.

While it is set to be the second of such a listing on the ASX, Australia is no stranger to similar products, stretching back over two years.

In April 2022, Global X 21Shares’ Bitcoin ETF (EBTC) launched on Cboe Australia, which became the first product to debut in the country using a wholesale-retail feeder fund structure.

Shortly after, Cosmos Asset Management introduced the Cosmos Purpose Bitcoin Access ETF, which was later delisted due to market instability following the collapse of Terra/Luna and large crypto lenders.

While the crypto market downturn put future domestic listings on hold, Sydney-based Monochrome Asset Management kicked things off again this year by listing its own product, IBTC, on the Cboe Australia exchange on June 4.

That was followed by VanEck’s offering two weeks later.