Firms in Hong Kong reportedly hope to leapfrog US companies and get a leg up on the market by rolling out Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETF) first.

The Hong Kong news outlet Sing Tao Daily, citing “industry insiders,” reports that spot ETH ETFs are under “intensive preparation” in the jurisdiction.

Livio Weng, the chief operating officer of the digital asset financial services firm HashKey Group, also tells Sing Tao Daily that the Ethereum spot ETF is currently the most anticipated product by global crypto investors.

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published spot crypto ETF requirements in December. The multinational asset management giant Harvest Fund Management reportedly submitted the first application for a spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF the following month.

On January 10th, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) greenlit 10 spot BTC ETFs after applicants worked with the regulator for months to refine their proposals.

The SEC is also currently evaluating numerous bids to create Ethereum ETFs from marquee asset managers like BlackRock, Grayscale and Fidelity, though it has delayed decisions on a number of applications.

Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, says May is the month when the SEC is primed to decide on the potential ETH products, though he estimates there’s only a 35% chance they get approved.

“I get all the reasons they SHOULD approve it (and we personally believe they should) but all the signs/sources that were making us bullish 2.5 months out for BTC spot are not there this time. Note: 35% isn’t 0%, still possible, and long-term we think it will happen.”

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