Two cryptocurrency backed exchange traded funds have launched on the Cboe Australia exchange, bringing the total amount of six crypto ETFs available to Australian traders.
The Canada based 3iQ Digital Asset Management launched two spot ETFs, the 3iQ CoinShares Bitcoin Feeder ETF and the 3iQ CoinShares Ether Feeder ETF.
Both of the Australian funds feed from the firm’s Canadian ETFs listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The underlying assets of the Canadian ETFs are holdings of BTC and ETH held in cold storage by the Gemini crypto exchange.
3iQ’s funds join the Bitcoin and Ether backed funds by 21Shares and Cosmos Asset Management, the last of which saw launch delays in April due to a undisclosed service provider requiring time to support the launch.
Three ETFs, a Bitcoin and Ether ETF by 21Shares, and a Bitcoin ETF by Cosmos eventually opened to trading , becoming the first crypto ETFs in Australia.
The essential assets for the Cosmos ETFs are direct investments into the Canadian Purpose Bitcoin and Ether ETFs, while the funds issued by 21Shares are backed by Bitcoin and Ether reserves held in cold storage by Coinbase.
The three original funds by 21Shares and Cosmos had a sluggish start to trading only having $1.3 million in volume on the day of launch, far below the estimated $1 billion of expected inflows. The two 21Shares funds received a total of around $936,500 of total inflows, while Cosmos’ Bitcoin fund received just over $398,000.
