Moving ahead of the U.S. regulators, the SEC of Hong Kong has officially approved both Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF products from major local asset managers.

In separate statements, China Asset Management, Bosera Capital, HashKey Capital Limited and Harvest Global Investments announced that they had received regulatory approval from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) to launch Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Monday, April 15.

Although the U.S. set the precedent this year with the approval of the first U.S.-listed ETFs to track spot bitcoin, the decision on the Ethereum ETFs has been continuously postponed.

Meanwhile, just a few weeks after the U.S. gave the green light to several spot Bitcoin tracking funds, Harvest Hong Kong, one of China’s largest fund managers, applied for the same to the Hong Kong SFC. Except for the pioneer applicant, there were reportedly about 10 other regional financial institutions which have signalled their interest in launching a spot BTC ETF in 2024.

Predictably, in Hong Kong, with its favourable crypto regulations, the approval process didn’t take too long. Besides, the regulator also enabled a few local asset managers to launch their Ethereum ETFs in one swift move.

The approval empowered local investors to directly use Bitcoin and Ethereum to subscribe for corresponding ETF shares. Hong Kong also became Asia’s first location to accept these popular cryptocurrencies as a mainstream investment tool.

Unlike the U.S. SEC, the Hong Kong SFC imposes strict regulatory requirements on asset management companies issuing virtual asset fund products and the licences they should hold. The underlying asset for a crypto spot ETF must be currently tradable on licensed exchanges in Hong Kong, and available for retail users, like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Local legislation also specifies that such funds are not allowed to use leverage.