Australian Securities Exchange approves its First Spot Bitcoin ETF

Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has announced the approval of the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), which is scheduled to go live on June 20th.

According to a VanEck press release, Australia's largest stock market stated that VanEck will be the issuer and that the product will be known as the VanEck Bitcoin ETF (VBTC). This makes it the first time in the country with similar product launches in the US and Hong Kong. It comes just a few months ago, on January 11, when the company received approval to begin trading spot Bitcoin ETFs, known as the VanEck Bitcoin Trust (HODL), in the US.

Just six months have passed since the US approved the Bitcoin ETF in January before the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) made its decision. Prominent companies such as BlackRock and VanEck have led the cryptocurrency to increased interest from institutional investors, demonstrating the great success of those products, according to a VanEck press release.

VanEck is the only applicant who has received approval thus far, and discussions with other issuers are still ongoing, according to a representative for ASX, which manages the majority of Australian equity trading. Australia now becomes the third country to authorize the BTC exchange-traded product, following the US and Hong Kong.

The Australian listing follows the US$57 billion (S$77 billion) that was amassed by the first Bitcoin ETFs offered in the US in 2024, including VanEck, BlackRock, and Fidelity Investments. In April, Hong Kong allowed spot ETFs for Bitcoin and Ether, but the amount of interest in them was much lower than that of the US vehicles.

Arian Neiron, CEO and Managing Director of VanEck Asia Pacific, talked about the new ETF. He stated specifically that there has been an increase in "demand for access to Bitcoin via listed vehicles traded on ASX." He also disclosed that customers had informed the company that they "have an allocation ready to invest."

Neiron stated, "We acknowledge that Bitcoin is an emerging asset class that many investors and advisers want to access."Additionally, by handling all the back-end complexity, VBTC increases the accessibility of bitcoin. It is no longer required to comprehend the technical aspects of obtaining, storing, and safeguarding digital assets, he continued.

A major milestone has been reached with the introduction of a Bitcoin ETF on Australia's primary exchange. For both institutional and individual investors, the ASX—the biggest stock exchange in the country—brings increased exposure, legitimacy, and visibility to Bitcoin.

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