Hong Kong approves first Solana ETF, ahead of the US, amid moves to embrace crypto Hong Kong has approved its first exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the performance of the cryptocurrency token Solana, ahead of the US, as the city moves to cement its status as a digital asset hub. ChinaAMC (HK), the Hong Kong arm of Chinese fund manager China Asset Management, started accepting subscriptions for its new spot Solana ETF on Wednesday after receiving approval from the Securities and Futures Commission last week. The ETF, set to start trading on Monday, directly holds Solana and aims to offer returns that “closely correspond” to the performance of the token before fees and expenses, according to the prospectus. SOL, the native token of the Solana blockchain network, was the sixth largest cryptocurrency by market value on Wednesday, with its total value just above US$100 billion, according to CoinGecko, a cryptocurrency data aggregator. SOL was trading at about US$184. It has fallen about 2.7 per cent this year but is up about 10 per cent from a year earlier. The Solana network was founded in 2017 and took off in popularity in 2021 during the non-fungible token boom, and is now one of the biggest competitors of Ethereum. The ChinaAMC Solana ETF, the first of its kind in Asia, allows trading in Hong Kong dollar, yuan and the US dollar. Canada launched the world’s first Solana ETF in April, while the US has yet to approve any. The ETF gives a boost to Hong Kong’s digital asset ambitions, which have faced a setback amid increased scrutiny from Beijing owing to excessive market enthusiasm over stablecoins and real-world asset tokenisation projects. Hong Kong in April last year approved its first six spot crypto ETFs, beating the US in launching spot ether ETFs. ChinaAMC, which operates a bitcoin ETF and an ether ETF, warned that “the value of Solana could decline significantly in a short period of time, including to zero”. The company said in 2022 Solana saw the biggest single-day drop of 42.28 per cent. https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3329969/hong-kong-approves-first-solana-etf-ahead-us-amid-moves-embrace-crypto (ICE HONG KONG)

Fonte notizia: South China Morning Post