The highly anticipated spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are all set to begin trading early next week, according to a report from Bloomberg citing a spokesperson for one of the issuers, HashKey. 

According to the HashKey executive, the crypto ETFs will be launched on April 30. These spot bitcoin and ether ETFs will have an in-kind subscription and redemption mechanism which allows for the underlying assets to be swapped for ETF units and vice versa, whereas the US funds operate on a cash redemption model.

Last week, Unchained reported that the Hong Kong markets regulator had cleared the way for four firms to go ahead with their planned launch of spot bitcoin and ether ETFs. China Asset Management, Bosera Capital, HashKey Capita and Harvest Global all said they had received in-principle approval for their funds.

Some analysts estimate that these funds could bring in up to $25 billion worth of demand, subject to investors from mainland China finding a way to access these investment products. 

Others say that Hong Kong ETFs would be lucky to capture $500 million worth of inflows, given the tight restrictions in place for Chinese investors when it comes to crypto investments and high fee structures from these relatively smaller issuers.

The US-based spot bitcoin ETFs have seen unprecedented demand after their launch in January, barring Grayscale’s GBTC which has consistently recorded outflows, while seeing a less dramatic reduction in assets under management (AUM) given bitcoin’s positive price action over the last few months.

While catching up to the U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs might seem out of reach in the short term for Hong Kong based issuers, they are likely to lead the way with spot ether ETFs. In the US, the outlook for a spot ether ETF being approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) looks increasingly grim, according to analysts watching the market closely.

Bloomberg’s James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas maintain that there is just a 25% chance that spot ether ETF applications will be approved by the May 23 deadline. This comes even amid some prospective issuers, including BlackRock, amending their applications.