Bitcoin has bounced back from a weekend price crash, sparked by fears the Middle East conflict could spiral into a wider war.
The bitcoin price has climbed to around $66,000 per bitcoin after dropping toward $60,000 on Saturday. In recent months, a fleet of new Wall Street spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have turbo-charged the bitcoin price amid predictions of a "rapid, cataclysmic" U.S. dollar collapse.
Now, after a top Federal Reserve official issued a stark inflation warning, multiple financial giants in Hong Kong appeared to leak the news the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) had approved their spot bitcoin and ethereum ETF applications.
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China's president Xi Jinping has overseen a bitcoin, ethereum, XRP and crypto crackdown in China in ... [+]
China Asset Management, Bosera Capital and Harvest Global have announced they had been approved to list spot bitcoin and ethereum ETFs in Hong Kong.
There has not been an announcement from the SFC, however, and some of the social media posts from the financial giants have since been deleted, it was reported by Coindesk.
"Just a year after Hong Kong gave regulatory clarity for digital exchanges in June 2023, they are again demonstrating a push toward being a leading if not progressive, financial hub for the region by allowing spot bitcoin ETFs," Michael Silberberg, head of investor relations at crypto hedge fund Alt Tab Capital, said in emailed comments, predicting it will "likely encourage similar regulatory frameworks" around the world.
"This move will potentially attract more institutional investors and capital inflows into the cryptocurrency market across Asia. The move also paves the way for increased liquidity, better price discovery, and enhanced market stability."
The leaks have already led to expectations among crypto investors that the U.S. and Hong Kong will compete for crypto inflows into their respective funds.
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The bitcoin price has rocketed higher, largely thanks to the arrival of a fleet of spot bitcoin ... [+]
"It is now a fight for capital between Hong Kong and New York to flow into their bitcoin ETFs," Alistair Milne, Altana Digital Currency Fund's chief investment officer, posted to X.
Despite exceptions from analysts at Singapore-based crypto services provider Matrixport that the Hong Kong spot bitcoin and ethereum ETFs could see $25 billion in demand from mainland China, local crypto reporter Colin Wu claimed issuers he'd spoken to said those outside of Hong Kong would be banned from the ETFs.
The fleet of new spot bitcoin ETFs approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in January have attracted over $50 billion in assets under management as investors rushed to get bitcoin exposure following a decade of application rejections.
Wall Street giants BlackRock
