Monochrome Asset Management is set to launch Australia’s first spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund on Tuesday.
The Ethereum ETF (ETH) will debut on Cboe Australia, bringing the Monochrome Ethereum ETF to market with the ticker IETH on Tuesday, October 15.
IETH is launching a few months after Monochrome unveiled its spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF, which launched in August. The Monochrome Bitcoin ETF (IBTC) held approximately 167 Bitcoins, worth AUD 15 million.
Monochrome and its partner Vasco Trustees Limited applied to list IETH on Cboe Australia in early September, noting in an announcement that the Ethereum spot ETF would passively hold Ether.
This means the product would offer retail investors a regulated way to gain exposure to Ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, currently above $316 billion.
IETH is a dual-access fund, allowing cash and in-kind redemptions. For investors, this means the ability to purchase and cash out the ETF with the underlying asset, Ether. During this time, State Street Australia will serve as administrator of the fund. Digital asset custody service provider BitGo and crypto exchange Gemini are the custody service providers of the fund.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved the first spot crypto ETFs in the United States in January 2024, giving the green light to funds that include spot Bitcoin ETFs from BlackRock, Fidelity Investments and Grayscale.
The SEC then approved Ethereum spot ETFs in May, and trading began in July. Hong Kong and Australia are among several countries that have given the green light to spot crypto ETFs.
However, although the value of assets held in these funds in countries like Australia is low, the US market has seen a notable increase in demand. Data from ETF tracking site SoSoValue shows that the total net assets of U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs as of Oct. 11 were $58.66 billion. Ethereum had $6.74 billion.
