Samsung tries its way to Bitcoin ETF
Samsung asset management and ETFs have a history that goes back a long way.
The investment arm of the Korean communications house has always tried to go down the path of these financial instruments as a means to success.
A Bitcoin ETF Coming Soon From Samsung?
Back at the beginning of the year Samsung Group Investment The fund wanted to list a Bitcoin ETF by 2022.
The instrument was to be listed on one of Asia’s major stock exchanges, namely the Hong Kong stock exchange.
The news at the time of the incident was reported by the Korea Economic Daily news agency, according to which the IPO was supposed to take place by June this year.
At the end of March, the South Korean investment company bought 20% of ETF Amplify Holding Company LLC and the idea was to launch a new Bitcoin ETF similar to the same company’s BLOK fund.
The ETF that served as inspiration was an instrument that was listed on the stock exchange in May last year and involves investing 80% of the net worth in securities of companies linked to blockchain development.
Block had stakes in Coinbase, MicroStrategy, Nvidia, SBI Holdings and Galaxy Digital, and Samsung Asset Management’s (SAM) new fund would be quite similar to investments in stocks with similar backgrounds in the Asian market (usually not just Chinese).
History repeats itself, but after a significant opening of Hong Kong to the crypto world, the focus this time is on one Bitcoin-based ETF.
CSOP Asset Management (Southern OPIN Asset Management Co. Ltd), Samsung Asset Management and Mirae Asset Global Investment Co. Ltd. has formally applied for permission to issue ETFs to retail investors on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The transactions will be invested in, among others, CME Futures Bitcoin and Ethereum Futures Group.
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) is the conduit for listing ETFs investing in Digital Gold and ETH futures traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Hong Kong intends to transform itself into a strategic hub for the cryptocurrency world and is organizing itself through more permissive regulations and mass adoption to grow in this regard.
Samsung Asset Management will allow investors to buy or sell Bitcoin without having to do so directly, but by going through an ad hoc fund.
The applications from the three companies mentioned above came already on 31 October, that is when the SFC chose to open up to retail investors trading ETFs linked to digital assets (including Bitcoin).
The approvals, according to Su Cheen Chuah, a partner at law firm Deacons, will take about three months for the SFC to thoroughly review.
Samsung Asset Management applying for approval of its BTC ETF comes right on the heels of the FTX case, but had been decided long ago and could bring new life to the Asian market.
Chris Pigott, head of Asian ETF services for Brown Brothers Harriman, believes that the first Bitcoin ETF will be released by 2022, January 2023 at the latest.
The Hong Kong SFC stated:
“The city’s crypto ecosystem has made significant strides over the past four years, laying the groundwork for retail investors.”
