Harvest CEO may push for bitcoin, ether ETFs on the Stock Connect for mainland Chinese investors in two years
- Harvest CEO Han Tongli said he ‘doesn’t rule out’ applying to get the spot crypto ETFs on the Stock Connect scheme as long as ‘everything goes smooth’
- The new ETFs were a major topic at the two-day Bitcoin Asia conference that kicked off in Hong Kong on Thursday
Chinese fund house Harvest Global Investments, one of the three issuers of Hong Kong’s first spot cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs), is already thinking of a future that gives mainland investors direct access to its bitcoin and ether products through the ETF Connect scheme, according to the company’s CEO.
Harvest “doesn’t rule out” applying for its ETFs that invest directly in crypto tokens to be included in the connect programme that links exchanges in mainland China and Hong Kong, as long as “everything goes smooth and well” in the next two years, Harvest CEO Han Tongli, who also serves as the firm’s chief investment officer, told the Post on the sidelines of the Bitcoin Asia conference on Thursday.
ETF Connect, launched in May 2022, gives mainland investors access to a range of selected ETFs listed in Hong Kong. It is part of the larger Stock Connect scheme that launched 2014, first connecting the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges.
Inclusion of crypto ETFs in the scheme could be a major confidence boost for the market, and offer a large new investor pool for the nascent products. Some have questioned whether their inclusion would be allowed given Beijing’s hostile stance towards cryptocurrencies. Most commercial crypto activities are banned on the mainland, although trading and ownership among individuals remains an ongoing legal question.
Hong Kong’s bitcoin and ether futures ETFs, which launched in 2022, have not been included in the Stock Connect.
