-
Cryptocurrencies
gave
up
their
weekend
gains,
with
the
broad-market
CoinDesk
Market
Index
declining
3%
over
the
past
24
hours. -
The
first
batch
of
Hong
Kong-listed
spot
bitcoin
and
ether
ETFs
will
start
trading
on
Tuesday
morning. -
ChinaAMC’s
head
of
digital
asset
management
said
the
offerings
will
be
beneficial
for
crypto
prices
improving
liquidity
and
expand
participation.
Crypto
markets
were
lower
across
the
board,
with
bitcoin
(BTC)
wavering
near
$63,000
as
the
upcoming
Hong
Kong
crypto
spot
exchange-traded
fund
(ETF)
debut
has
failed
to
spark
excitement
among
investors.
BTC
drifted
lower
during
the
day
from
$64,000
over
the
weekend,
slipping
briefly
to
$61,800
before
recovering
to
just
near
$63,000
at
U.S.
afternoon
hours.
The
largest
crypto
by
market
value
was
recently
changing
hands
at
$63,000
down
about
1%
in
the
past
24
hours,
holding
up
better
than
the
broad-market
CoinDesk
Market
Index
(CD20),
which
lost
3%
over
the
same
period.
Most
altcoin
majors
also
gave
up
their
weekend
gains,
with
ether
(ETH),
solana
(SOL),
dogecoin
(DOGE)
declining
4%-6%.
Crypto
markets
have
been
drifting
sideways
for
the
last
few
weeks
in
lack
of
a
strong
investment
narrative
to
drive
prices,
cooling
from
last
month’s
record-breaking
BTC
price
action
and
altcoin
and
memecoin
frenzy.
CoinDesk’s
Bitcoin
and
Ether
Trend
Indicators
both
remain
in
neutral
reading,
indicating
a
market
without
a
clear
direction.
Even
though
spot-based
bitcoin
and
ether
ETFs
in
Hong
Kong
will
start
trading
on
Tuesday
morning
local
time,
the
incoming
debut
didn’t
spark
a
similar
level
of
anticipation
ahead
of
the
event
as
to
the
fever
pitch
that
preceded
the
U.S.
spot
bitcoin
ETFs.
Notably,
BTC
nearly
doubled
in
price
during
three
months
leading
up
to
the
January
11
debut,
and
significant
inflows
helped
propel
BTC
over
$73,000
in
March.
Defying
the
muted
anticipation,
an
executive
of
ChinaAMC
–
one
of
the
three
issuers
of
the
new
Hong
Kong-listed
spot
ETFs
–
reportedly
said
during
a
press
briefing
that
the
first-day
issuance
of
shares
may
surpass
the
U.S.
debut’s
$125
million,
referring
to
the
new
products’
seed
funding.
“I
am
very
confident
that
the
initial
listing
scale
of
Hong
Kong’s
virtual
asset
spot
ETF
can
exceed
the
issuance
scale
on
the
first
day
of
the
United
States,”
said
Zhu
Haokang,
head
of
digital
asset
management
and
family
wealth.
Wayne
Huang,
head
of
ETF
and
custody
at
crypto
exchange
OSL,
said
that
the
exchange
had
completed
the
first
day
of
raising
funds
for
two
of
the
new
offerings,
and
confirmed
Haokang’s
forecast.
“Judging
from
the
numbers,
the
transactions
are
indeed
far
greater
than
the
capital
inflow
of
the
U.S.
bitcoin
spot
ETF
on
its
first
day
of
trading,”
Huang
said.
Haokang
also
said
that
the
ETFs
will
be
beneficial
for
crypto
prices
as
the
offerings
feed
more
liquidity
to
digital
asset
markets,
broaden
funding
channels
and
participation.