Hong Kong gives initial approval to first bitcoin, ether spot ETFs, say funds

April 15 (Reuters) - Hong Kong conditionally approved its first spot bitcoin and ether exchange traded funds (ETFs) on Monday, money managers said, paving the way for the city to become Asia's first to accept the cryptocurrencies as a mainstream investment tool.

At least three offshore Chinese asset managers will launch the virtual asset spot ETFs soon.

The Hong Kong units of Harvest Fund Management and Bosera Asset Management said in separate statements they had received conditional approvals from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) to launch the ETFs.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong unit of China Asset Management - ChinaAMC (HK), said it had received regulatory approval on Monday to provide virtual asset management services, and the firm was developing spot ETFs of bitcoin and ether.