Originally published on Australian Financial Review by Aleks Vickovich 4th November 2021.
The Australian Securities Exchange’s first listed investment fund linked to cryptocurrency markets has smashed previous debut trading volume records within just fifteen minutes.
The BetaShares Crypto Innovators ETF (ASX: CRYP) began trading on the ASX at 10.30am on Thursday. At a debut price of $11.23 per unit, experiencing $8 million in trading volume by 10.45am.
By midday, the newly listed fund had attracted $24.5 million worth of trading volume, according to Bloomberg data, hitting $28 million by 1pm.
Janie Barrett
That activity is understood to be a record for an ASX-listed ETF on its first day, with the previous record held by active fund manager Hyperion. Which attracted $8 million worth of trades in its Global Growth Companies Fund over the course of its first day of trading in March this year. The ASX has been approached for comment.
CRYP’s launch, reported by The Australian Financial Review in October, is the ASX’s first foray into permitting investment products linked to crypto markets. Although it does not invest directly in cryptocurrencies or digital assets. It provides exposure via global companies involved in the market such as bitcoin miners and crypto trading platforms. It tracks the Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators Index.
“The genuine investor demand is growing, and it makes sense for us to offer them exposure to the most important development since the launch of the internet,” BetaShares chief executive Alex Vynokur said at the time.
It’s a milestone for the ASX, which is seen as hostile to the nascent market for crypto assets. With several high-profile Australian cryptocurrencies companies choosing to list abroad instead.
Last week, the ASX issued a statement acknowledging a “high level of interest among investors” for access to crypto markets via a regulated exchange. Following the corporate regulator’s release of guidance to firms planning to launch ETFs that invest directly in crypto assets.
It is the first to do so on the nation’s major exchange, but this follows the launch of competitor products on ASX rival Chi-X in recent weeks.
Crypto-specialist Cosmos Asset Management – which is headed by former BetaShares director Dan Annan and owned by US-listed Australian-born crypto miner Mawson Infrastructure – listed a bitcoin miners fund on Chi-X last week.
Cosmos’ DIGA fund tracks an inhouse index it claimed was “purer” than other incarnations by omitting impartial exchanges with little balance sheet exposure to cryptocurrencies.
ETF Securities has also listed a “fintech and blockchain” ETF on Chi-X. This includes crypto-linked equities but also a broader range of financial technology and payments companies.
Meanwhile, Cosmos, BetaShares and rival VanEck have each lodged applications to list bitcoin- and/or ethereum-backed ETFs in Australia and are racing to become the first to list such a product.
It comes as Commonwealth Bank, Australia’s largest ASX-listed financial institution, makes the groundbreaking addition of crypto-trading functionality to its banking app.
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