Following a delayed launch, Australia’s first crypto ETFs appeared on the Cboe Global Markets local exchange today, May 12th, Thursday. 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, Ethereum ETF, and Cosmos Purpose Bitcoin Access ETF are the three ETFs.
According to Bloomberg, the 21Shares products are spot funds that will invest directly in BTC and ETH, and the Cosmos fund will invest in the Canadian Purpose Bitcoin ETF, which has roughly $1.1 billion in assets.
The funds were welcomed with skepticism on May 12 and had lukewarm performances, as crypto markets continued to plummet after a week of massive losses.
In the first hour of trading, the Cosmos Purpose fund and 21Shares’ Bitcoin ETF had low trading volumes of around $AU 250,000 ($US 173,000). According to the AFR, the Ethereum fund had volumes of roughly $AU 150,000 ($US 103,000).
The market capitalisation of the three ETFs ranged from $AU 400,000 ($US 276,000) to $AU 470,000 ($US 324,000).
Dan Annan, CEO of Cosmos Asset Management, was not very worried and said,
“We have seen good reception from the market for day one trading to this point. We’re happy with how the product is trading regarding spreads.”
He went on to say that while some investors are wary of the present market volatility, he remains optimistic about the long-term prospects.
The launch of the Australian Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs comes on the heels of a 15% drop in crypto markets, with a total market value loss of $225 billion. It is not surprising that the funds did not perform very well. The current market sentiment is looming with uncertainty, and liquidations have hit investments hard.
While the Australian crypto industry has been open and welcoming to such investment products, the United States is still opposed in the same regard. At press time, Bitcoin (BTC) was trading at $28,037.77, down by 8.9% on the daily charts. Ethereum was trading at $1,901.23, down 18.6% on the daily charts.