SINGAPORE — When Desmond Yong polled about 100 attendees at a blockchain conference in Taiwan last month, not a single delegate admitted to buying exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track cryptocurrencies, despite buzz about its Asian market entry earlier this year.
“It's absolutely clear that ETFs are targeting a very specific, niche, crowd,” the 40-year-old, who previously worked at the Monetary Authority of Singapore and is now director of legal and compliance at blockchain technology firm Chainup, told Nikkei. Asia. “I think the industry has overblown it.”