Animoca Brands Chairman Yat Siu stated in an interview yesterday that the issuers of Ethereum spot ETFs in Hong Kong are currently working hard to incorporate staking functions into Ethereum spot ETFs. The approval probability is very high, can it change the current sluggish situation in the Hong Kong ETF market?
Following the approval of multiple Bitcoin spot ETFs by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in early January this year, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong also approved applications for a total of 6 Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs from Bosera, Huaxia, and Harvest in mid-April.
However, compared to the United States, the performance of Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs in Hong Kong since their listing has not been impressive. The first-day trading volume was only HK$87.58 million, less than 1% of the US Bitcoin spot ETF’s trading volume of $4.6 billion on the listing day. Furthermore, with the SEC having approved the preliminary application for an Ethereum spot ETF last month, market expectations for Hong Kong’s cryptocurrency ETF have further decreased.
Yat Siu: Hong Kong is expected to launch the staking function of Ethereum spot ETF this year
However, just yesterday, Yat Siu, Chairman of the Hong Kong-based blockchain gaming giant Animoca Brands, stated that the issuers of Ethereum spot ETFs in Hong Kong are currently working hard to incorporate the staking function into Ethereum spot ETFs and are expected to obtain approval from the authorities this year.
In addition, Livio Weng, CEO of licensed exchange HashKey in Hong Kong, admitted that:
At the same time, Glenn Woo, Asia-Pacific sales director of blockchain infrastructure provider Blockdaemon, revealed that they are currently in discussions with ETF issuers and custodians in Hong Kong to explore the possibility of providing staking services for ETFs.
Can staking bring a turning point to Hong Kong ETFs?
According to data from The Block, in this week’s trading, Hong Kong’s Bitcoin spot ETF accumulated a total trading volume of $10.28 million from Tuesday to Thursday, while the United States received a trading volume of $1.42 billion on Thursday alone, showing a significant gap between the two.
In response to this situation, Yat Siu mentioned that introducing the staking function to Ethereum spot ETFs may bring more funds to the ETF market in Hong Kong, changing its current sluggish state.
Glenn Woo shares the same view, believing that:
Further reading:
Opinion: How much impact will the approval of Ethereum spot ETF by the SEC have on the cryptocurrency market?
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