Mox Bank, a virtual bank in Hong Kong, has started offering trading in cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs), making it the first bank to do so. Mox Bank is a subsidiary of Standard Chartered and has become the first to let customers trade spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs directly on its platform.
The bank is also looking to expand its crypto services, including allowing customers to buy and trade cryptocurrencies directly in the future through a partnership with a licensed exchange.
Mox Bank is positioning itself as a low-cost option for crypto ETF trading. For Hong Kong-listed ETFs, it charges 0.12% of the transaction amount, with a minimum fee of $3.85. For US-listed ETFs, the charge is 0.01% per share with a minimum of $5.
Hong Kong approved spot crypto ETFs on April 30 as part of its plan to become a major crypto hub in Asia. Mox Bank, which started in September 2020, reports that 28% of its customers are already investing in crypto, with 18% actively trading.
Mox CEO Barbaros Uygun stated that the bank aims to lead in innovation and provide its customers with new investment opportunities. Jayant Bhatia, the bank’s chief product officer, mentioned that this launch is just the beginning, though he didn’t give details on when additional crypto trading services might be available.
So far, the three Hong Kong-based issuers of spot crypto ETFs—Bosera HashKey, ChinaAMC, and Harvest Global—have struggled to attract investors. According to recent data, these ETFs have not had any new investments in August and have a total of only $236.3 million in assets combined.