Mainland China investors won’t be able to buy Hong Kong Bitcoin ETFs

April 26, 2024 Coin Telegraph

HKEX-listed tech firm launches $15M Bitcoin fund

November 8, 2023 Coin Telegraph

HKEX-listed tech firm launches M Bitcoin fund

"The next step for the crypto market depends on a refresh of the Bitcoin network," wrote founder Wang Feng.

Linekong Interactive, a gaming and film production company headquartered in Beijing and listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (HKEX), is allocating $15 million to invest in projects building on the Bitcoin network.

Wang Fang, the founder of Linekong, said in a Nov. 8 tweet that the fund, dubbed "BTC Next," will be used to accelerate emerging projects in the Bitcoin ecosystem, including "asset issuance protocols, trading markets, expansion, virtual machines, NFT, RWA, and GameFi."

For initial efforts, the firm would "participate in the research and investment of Bitcoin network ecological assets as early as possible," publish its investment portfolios, and update the list of Bitcoin ecological crypto assets. "The panoramic curtain of the Bitcoin network ecology has slowly unfolded," BTC Next wrote. Traditionally, Bitcoin lacked the programmability associated with newer blockchains such as Ethereum, remaining for most periods largely unchanged from its invention in 2008.

However, the Bitcoin ecosystem has expanded greatly this year with the invention of Ordinals and Inscriptions, two novel data storage methods that together, allow users to mint unique digital assets on the Bitcoin blockchain.

In June, cross-chain wallet BitKeep (now Bitget Wallet) added deposit and withdrawal support for BRC-20 Bitcoin tokens modeled on the Ethereum ERC-20 standard. On November 7, Binance listed popular BRC-20 token Ordinals (ORDI), causing its value to surge more than 40% in a single day. BRC-20 tokens have altogether reached $1.36 billion in market cap since their inception.

更新/这件事情在我心里酝酿100天了，我们要启动一个BTC NEXT，加密市场的下一步离不开比特币网络的焕然一新。蓝港互动的成长，见过风起云涌，那时候，是和个人电脑、智能手机、互联网和游戏一起走过来的。我们的下一步，要和比特币网络的发展紧紧联系起来。

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— 小隐新十年（WangFeng） (@wangfeng_0128) November 8, 2023

Founded in 2007 in Beijing as an online gaming firm, Linekong Interactive first went public in Hong Kong in 2014. Before founding Linekong, Wang Feng was a vice president of software development at Kingsoft Software, a Chinese IT conglomerate.

Feng resigned as CEO of Linekong in 2018 to focus on blockchain, founding several projects in the nonfungible tokens, decentralized finance, and Bitcoin mining space. He returned to Linekong as CEO in 2022 after an invitation from the firm's board of directors to better integrate Linekong products with Web3.

Samsung investment arm considering spot-Bitcoin ETF in Hong Kong

January 13, 2023 Coin Telegraph

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With the Hong Kong Stock Exchange being the only regulated exchange in Asia offering Bitcoin futures ETFs, some believe spot crypto ETF products will soon be allowed.

Hot on the heels of its Bitcoin (BTC) futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) in Hong Kong, Samsung Asset Management has indicated it's considering the launch of a spot Bitcoin ETF on the city's exchange if policies allow for it.

In an interview with Bloomberg published on Jan. 13, Hong Kong chief executive for Samsung Asset Management, Sam Park, said: “It really depends on how policy is going to be developed,” adding that the Hong Kong administrators are “clearly” interested in developing the city into a crypto hub.

An ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, Rebecca Sin, noted that “Hong Kong is well positioned to become Asia’s crypto gateway,” and expects spot Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) products to be allowed there by the year's end.

A spot market refers to a market where the exchange of financial instruments is settled immediately, while a futures market refers to a market where participants buy and sell contracts to be settled at a later date, with products considered derivatives.

Samsung launched its Bitcoin futures ETF on the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Market on Jan. 13, with the exchange currently the only one in Asia which supports the trading of Bitcoin futures ETFs.

As of the time of publishing, the ETF has already recorded a 4.2% increase in its price.

Other Hong Kong futures ETFs have also seen interest, with two ETFs managed by CSOP Asset Management having raised $73.6 million in investments ahead of their Dec. 16 listing.

As noted by CSOP executive Yi Wang at the time: “The ETFs do not invest in physical Bitcoin and [...] there are more regulatory safeguards for investors compared to tokens traded on unregulated platforms.”

In a Twitter Spaces interview with Bloomberg Asia on Jan. 5, Animoca Brands Chairman Yat Sui indicated that Hong Kong was looking more attractive as a listing location compared to the United States, noting:

“The U.S. obviously seemed to be the market at the time that was perhaps a good one. But I would argue that, you know, places like Asia, particularly Hong Kong, are starting to look pretty attractive with their virtual asset policies, [...] with their desire to basically be a leader in the space.”

A lack of regulatory clarity has often been cited as the reason why so much crypto activity is leaving the United States, and has prompted lawmakers to push for crypto regulations as soon as possible.

Hong Kong-listed Huobi Tech launches cryptocurrency OTC service

March 3, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Formerly known as Pantronics Holdings, Huobi Technology has shifted its focus from electronic products to crypto.

Hong Kong-listed virtual asset platform Huobi Technology Holdings has launched a cryptocurrency over-the-counter (OTC) service, the firm announced to Cointelegraph on Wednesday.

Listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) since 2016, Huobi Technology was originally known as Pantronics Holdings, an electronic product maker founded back in 1990.

Huobi Technology has been actively moving into the cryptocurrency industry in recent years but operates independently of Huobi Group, the entity that owns the Huobi Global cryptocurrency exchange.

The two companies share some shareholders but they are two separate legal entities, a spokesperson for Huobi told Cointelegraph.

According to the latest announcement, Huobi Technology now allows investors to trade crypto via OTC using crypto block trading services and fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar. The firm plans to expand it to the euro, the British pound and the Hong Kong dollar in the near future.

Huobi Technology has introduced several crypto services in recent years, now supporting virtual asset management, custody, trust and lending. The company holds a wide number of licenses, including the security and asset management licenses from the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong, as well as a trust of company service provider license in Hong Kong. Huobi Tech has also obtained a retail trust company license in the United States state of Nevada via a wholly-owned subsidiary.

*Huobi Technology stock over the past five years. Source: TradingView*

Amid Huobi Technology’s entry into the crypto industry, the company’s stocks saw a sharp increase last year, briefly topping above $3 in April 2021, according to data from TradingView. The stock subsequently plummeted afterwards, dropping below $1 in late 2021.

A number of crypto-linked HKEX-listed companies like OKG Technology and BC Technology Group were also falling in late 2021 amid China’s crackdown on the crypto industry enforced in September. At the time of writing, the shares are trading at $0.89.

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