Australia’s largest stock market, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), has approved the listing of the first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) on its platform on 20 June. The issuer will be VanEck, and the instrument will be dubbed the VanEck Bitcoin ETF (VBTC).

Bitcoin ETF on ASX

The decision of the leading Australian stock exchange came after the success of Bitcoin ETFs in the United States, where 11 such instruments have been listed since January. Hong Kong also launched Bitcoin and Ether ETFs following the US; however, those instruments failed to gain traction due to the local market size.

“The demand for access to Bitcoin via a listed vehicle traded on ASX has been increasing, and many of our clients have told us that their clients are already positioned to have an allocation ready to invest,” said Arian Neiron, CEO and Managing Director at VanEck Asia Pacific.

“We have been engaged with bringing a spot Bitcoin ETF to ASX since early 2021.”

The Success of Bitcoin ETFs Drives More Listings

VanEck is one of the issuers of Bitcoin ETFs in the US market and has also applied to launch an Ether ETF. Although the US Securities and Exchange Commission approved the listing of Ether ETFs by American exchanges, it is yet to greenlight the individual Ether ETF applications by the issuers.

Interestingly, the first Bitcoin ETF in Australia was listed two years ago by CBOE Australia, the country’s second-largest stock exchange. The issuer of the first Bitcoin ETF in the Australian market was Global X 21 Shares Bitcoin ETF (EBTC), which made the listing in April 2022. Earlier this month, CBOE Australia also listed Monochrome Bitcoin ETF (IBTC) as the second Bitcoin ETF.

“We recognize Bitcoin is an emerging asset class that many advisers and investors want to access,” Neiron stated in a recent press release. “VBTC also makes Bitcoin more accessible by managing all the back-end complexity. Understanding the technical aspects of acquiring, storing, and securing digital assets is no longer necessary.”