Wintermute announces liquidity support for Hong Kong spot bitcoin, ether ETFs

Quick Take

  • The crypto market maker said it has partnered with OSL and HashKey — both sub-custodians for spot bitcoin and ether ETFs in Hong Kong.
  • Six spot bitcoin and ether ETFs debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on April 30.

Crypto market maker Wintermute announced today that it will provide liquidity to OSL and HashKey for Hong Kong’s spot bitcoin and ether exchange-traded funds, in an attempt to “foster Wintermute’s presence in the Asia crypto markets.”

In a Wednesday statement, Wintermute said that it plans to work closely with OSL and HashKey — both sub-custodians for the spot crypto ETFs in Hong Kong — on buying, selling and delivery of underlying bitcoin and ether for the spot ETFs.

“ETFs play a key role in bringing the next wave of investors into the crypto space, both institutional and retail, and without companies like Wintermute providing liquidity, this would not be possible,” Evgeny Gaevoy, CEO of Wintermute, said in the statement. “Hong Kong has established itself as a leading advocate for crypto in the APAC region, and we are hopeful that other countries will follow their lead in the near future.”

Six spot bitcoin and ether ETFs — managed by China Asset Management, Harvest Global, and Bosera and HashKey — officially debuted in Hong Kong on April 30. The three spot bitcoin ETFs recorded their first cumulative daily bitcoin outflows on Monday — solely from China Asset Management’s ETF. ChinaAMC’s spot bitcoin ETF saw 75.36 BTC leave the product on the day, according to data from SosoValue.

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The trading volume of the three spot bitcoin ETFs amounted to $8.6 million on Monday, compared to $9.74 million on their first trading day. The three ether ETFs logged $1.8 million in trading volume on Monday, down from $2.99 million on April 30.

The three spot bitcoin ETFs held about 4,150 bitcoins as of Monday, with total net assets amounting to $266.8 million from $247.7 million on the first day, according to SosoValue.


Disclaimer: Evgeny Gaevoy, the founder and CEO of Wintermute, previously sat on The Block’s board of directors from April 2023 to early November 2023 and remains a minority shareholder.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

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About Author

Timmy Shen is an Asia editor for The Block. Previously, he wrote about crypto and Web3 for Forkast.News from Taiwan after spending more than three years in Beijing covering finance, entertainment business and current affairs at Caixin Global and Chinese tech at TechNode. His China-related reporting has also appeared in The Guardian. When he's not chasing headlines, you'll find him savoring hot pot and shabu shabu in a Taipei local haunt. Timmy holds an MS degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Send tips to [email protected] or get in touch on X/Telegram @timmyhmshen.

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