Two more spot crypto ETFs launch on Australian markets

A further two cryptocurrency-backed exchange-traded funds (ETF) have launched on the Cboe Australia exchange on Monday, bringing the total amount of crypto ETFs available to Australian traders to six.

The Canada-based 3iQ Digital Asset Management launched two spot ETFs, the 3iQ CoinShares Bitcoin (BTC) Feeder ETF and the 3iQ CoinShares Ether (ETH) Feeder ETF.

Both of the Australian funds feed from the firm’s Canadian ETFs listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), the 3iQ CoinShares Bitcoin ETF, and the 3iQ CoinShares Ether ETF. The underlying assets of the Canadian ETFs are holdings of BTC and ETH held in cold storage by the Gemini crypto exchange.

3iQ’s funds join the Bitcoin- and Ether-backed funds by 21Shares and Cosmos Asset Management, the latter of which saw launch delays in April due to a still-unnamed service provider needing time to support the launch.

Three ETFs, a Bitcoin and Ether ETF by 21Shares, and a Bitcoin ETF by Cosmos eventually opened to trading in early May, becoming the first crypto ETFs in Australia. Cosmos later released an Ether-backed fund on May 31.

Much like 3iQ funds, the underlying assets for the Cosmos ETFs are direct investments into the Canadian Purpose Bitcoin and Ether ETFs, while the funds issued by 21Shares are backed by Bitcoin and Ether reserves held in cold storage by Coinbase.

A point of difference is that 3iQ boasts having the lowest expense ratio out of the six at 1.2% — 0.05% lower than the 21Shares and Cosmos ETFs, each with an expense ratio of 1.25%.

Related: Amid crypto bear market, institutional investors scoop up Bitcoin: CoinShares

The three original funds by 21Shares and Cosmos had a sluggish start to trading, only seeing $1.3 million in volume on the day of launch, far below the estimated $1 billion of expected inflows. The two 21Shares funds received a total of around $936,500 of total inflows, while Cosmos’ Bitcoin fund received just over $398,000.

According to data from Cboe at the time of writing, the two 3iQ ETFs have seen a volume of 13,592 and 9,754 shares traded of the Bitcoin and Ether ETFs, respectively, accounting for around $73,415 and $73,605, respectively, for a total of over $147,000, much smaller than its competitors.