Australian Asset Manager Delists Bitcoin, Ethereum ETFs After Just 6 Months

The asset manager behind two of Australia’s first crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has applied to delist the much-hyped investment vehicles just a few months after launch.

The fund responsible for Cosmos Asset Management’s ETFs said in a letter to local securities and derivatives exchange Cboe that it would be applying to revoke its Bitcoin and Ethereum funds from the market.

The Cosmos Purpose Bitcoin Access ETF (CBTC) and the Cosmos Purpose Ethereum Access ETF (CPET) were both launched in May of this year, alongside two rival funds which listed the same day, marking the first funds to be listed on the Australian stock market.

Another fund that invested in crypto mining firms under the ticker DIGA will also be pulled from the market.

The process of launching the funds had been a slow one, hit by delays right up until the last moment before listing.

By the time CBTC began trading on May 12, 2022, the crypto world was in meltdown over the collapse of the Terra ecosystem. 

The resulting bear market is thought to have contributed to Cosmos’s difficulties, with sources telling the Australian Financial Review that the firm struggled to get enough traction to cover the high costs of running the fund.

In its six months of trading, the price of Cosmos’s CBTC ETF fell almost 19%, while CPET was down about 13.8%. Trading of both was halted on Monday.

Cosmos had previously been owned by Nasdaq-listed bitcoin miner Mawson Infrastructure, which operates mining sites in both the U.S. and Australia. 

But the business decided to sell Cosmos after deciding it didn’t want to be in the “long game” of ETFs, Mawson’s chief executive James Manning told the AFR.

Decrypt has contacted Cosmos with a request for comment.

Crypto ETFs down under

Cosmos worked with Canadian firm Purpose Investment and custody specialist Gemini Trust to set up the funds. K2 Asset Management is the entity responsible for both CBTC and CPET, while One Investment Group has responsibility for DIGA.

Despite the delistings, chief executive Dan Annan said in a statement to the AFR that the firm still “strongly” believes in the asset class.

Meanwhile, two rival funds launched by ETF specialist Graham Tuckwell, which began trading on the same day as Cosmos’s vehicles, are still going.

But they have not been immune to the market downturn. 

At current prices, the Global X 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (EBTC) was down 18% on its initial May trading price, while the Global X 21Shares Ethereum ETF (EETH) was only down 6.4%.

Today, Bitcoin is trading hands at roughly $20,000 and Ethereum is trading at $1,539.