Ready To Go! VanEck’s VBTC Bitcoin ETF Starts Trading on ASX in Australian First

It’s go time!

Today’s the day that the first ever Bitcoin spot ETF launches on Australia’s largest exchange, the Australia Securities Exchange (ASX). The new ETF is issued by US asset management firm VanEck and trades under the ticker code VBTC. 

The launch of VanEck’s VBTC ETF on the ASX follows the firm’s successful launch of its VanEck Bitcoin Trust (HODL) product in the US earlier this year.

This new ETF isn’t the first Bitcoin spot ETF to launch in Australia, but it is the first to launch on the ASX — the other spot ETFs are traded on the smaller exchange Cboe Australia.

Related: ASX Approves Its First Ever Bitcoin Spot ETF, VanEck’s Product Set Launch This Week

VanEck ETF Aims To Simplify Bitcoin Investing

The structure of VanEck’s VBTC fund as outlined in the fund’s product disclosure statement is essentially that of a ‘feeder fund’, investors in VBTC gain exposure to the firm’s US-based Bitcoin ETF, VanEck Bitcoin Trust (HODL):

According to Finder’s 2024 Consumer Cryptocurrency Report, 27% of Australian’s either own or are interested in owning crypto. The issue for a lot of would-be investors though, is the knowledge barrier to buying and safely storing cryptocurrencies. 

According to VanEck’s Asia-Pacific CEO and Managing Director, Arian Neiron, one of the main benefits of a this new ETF is to allow more traditional investors, who may be daunted by the prospect of using a crypto exchange and learning how to store their digital assets, to easily gain exposure to Bitcoin:

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.

Arian Neiron, VanEck’s Asia-Pacific CEO and Managing Director

And there seems to be demand for a Bitcoin spot ETF traded on the nation’s largest exchange, with VanEck’s research from May of this year finding that 76.2% of Aussie financial advisers have had clients enquire about Bitcoin and 33% would add a Bitcoin ETF to their clients portfolios if it was available on the ASX.

ASX Follows Digital Asset Trend

ASX’s move to list a Bitcoin spot ETF follows a global trend of exchanges listing crypto-based investment products. The most obvious example is the listing of the US-based Bitcoin spot ETFs earlier this year, but exchanges in other jurisdictions including Hong Kong, China and the UK have all listed crypto-based exchange-traded products this year.

Related: Breaking: Australia’s First Bitcoin ETF Directly Holding BTC Goes Live on CBOE 

The listing also ensures the ASX can compete in the Bitcoin spot ETF space against its domestic competitor, Cboe Australia, which has already listed two such funds.