Australia's First Direct BTC And ETH ETFs To Launch On Chi-X Exchange

The global values of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin have massively fluctuated over the past year partly due to Chinese regulations

Australia’s first direct Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will launch on the Chi-X Exchange, which is the country’s second-biggest regulated securities market.

Local provider ETF Securities and Cathie Woods-backed 21Shares, which are parntering to launch the ETFs, also plan to establish a “blockchain research and education center.” They plan to provide direct exposure to the price movement of Bitcoin and Ethereum via the new ETFs. The exact date of the launch has not been revealed yet.

The ETFs will trade under the tickers EETH and EBTC on the Chia-X exchange and are subject to regulatory approvals. Australian investors will have the chance to invest in BTC and ETH, two of the biggest cryptocurrencies, without directly investing in the same via exchanges.

The funds will be operated by ETF Securities, which is the first firm to issue a gold-backed ETP.

Interestingly, The Motley Fool reported that the ETFs wouldn’t be listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, the primary exchange in the country. As per that report, there are regulatory difficulties in listing these ETFs on the primary exchange.

“Australians wanting to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum have historically been forced onto unregulated crypto exchanges. But with the launch of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, investors will be able to trade on highly regulated exchanges,” ETF Securities said in an email to customers.

21Shares has a long record in the ETP business and has over $3 billion assets under holding. The firm recently launched the first Polygon crypto ETP on Euronext Paris in EUR and Euronext Amsterdam in USD.

This ETP will track the investment results of Polygon, an Ethereum scaling solution that hosts more than 3,000 applications and is known for quick transactions, low gas fees as compared to ETH, and network composability.