Australia’s largest stock exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), has approved its first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), which is set to begin trading on June 20.
Investment firm VanEck will issue the VanEck Bitcoin ETF (VBTC), according to the company’s press release. This approval follows the firm’s successful launch of the spot Bitcoin ETF, VanEck Bitcoin Trust (HODL), in the United States on January 11.
Arian Neiron, CEO for VanEck in the Asia-Pacific region, emphasised the growing demand for Bitcoin exposure in Australia, especially through a “regulated, transparent and familiar investment vehicle.”
“We recognize Bitcoin is an emerging asset class that many advisers and investors want to access,” Neiron stated.
“VBTC also makes bitcoin more accessible by managing all the back-end complexity. Understanding the technical aspects of acquiring, storing and securing digital assets is no longer necessary,” he added.
Australia has seen the launch of other Bitcoin ETFs in recent years. Although this is the first time a spot Bitcoin ETF has been approved by the ASX, there have been two other instances of Bitcoin ETFs launching in Australia over the past two years.
The Monochrome Bitcoin ETF (IBTC) recently began trading on Australia’s second-largest stock exchange, the Cboe Australia exchange, on June 4.
Monochrome assures that IBTC’s holdings are securely stored offline, adhering to Australian institutional custody standards.
The first Bitcoin ETF to debut in Australia was the Global X 21 Shares Bitcoin ETF (EBTC), which launched in April 2022.