Samsung’s asset management company launches bitcoin futures ETF in Hong Kong

Samsung’s asset management arm has launched a bitcoin futures exchange traded fund (ETF). The new, actively managed ETF is listed and traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It seeks to “provide economic exposure to the value of bitcoin“, Samsung detailed.

Samsung’s Bitcoin Futures ETF

Samsung Asset Management (Hong Kong) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Asset Management, a member of the Samsung Group of companies, on Friday launched a bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) called the Samsung Bitcoin Futures Active ETF.

The new ETF is a sub-fund of Samsung ETFs Trust III, an umbrella mutual fund established under Hong Kong law, the company detailed, adding:

The sub-fund’s investment objective is to seek to provide economic exposure to the value of bitcoin by investing primarily in first-month bitcoin futures and/or micro bitcoin futures contracts traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

Samsung explained that the actively managed bitcoin futures ETF paves the way “To the’investment in the future adoption of crypto-technologies“. However, the company noted that the fund “does not invest directly in bitcoin and will not receive any bitcoin from bitcoin futures contracts on the CME. The CME is regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

While bitcoin is valued in U.S. dollars, units of the Samsung Bitcoin Futures Active ETF are listed and traded in Hong Kong dollars on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (SEHK), the company said.

The Bitcoin Futures ETF is managed by Samsung Asset Management (Hong Kong) Ltd. while HSBC Institutional Trust Services (Asia) Ltd. is the trustee and registrar of the fund. The fund will “commit and have exposure of up to 100%” of its net asset value (NAV) in CME bitcoin futures, the company added.

The newly launched ETF is not Samsung Asset Management’s only crypto-currency-related fund. In June last year, the Hong Kong-based firm launched the “Samsung blockchain technologies ETF” and the “Samsung Asia Pacific ex NZ Metaverse Theme ETF.