Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the CoinShares Q1 Earnings Broadcast. All participants dialing in are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there'll be a question and answer session. You can submit your questions via the post box below the video on the platform. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I'd now like to hand the conference over to your host, Jeri-Lea Brown. Thank you.
Thank you, operator. I would like to welcome you all to the CoinShares 2024 Q1 Earnings Call and Webcast. Speaking from management today will be Jean-Marie Mognetti, Chief Executive Officer, and Richard Nash, Chief Financial Officer. All those joining today are encouraged to log in to the live event, where you'll be able to view the accompanying presentation during today's call. Alternatively, the results and a copy of the presentation are available to download from the Investor Relations section of the CoinShares website. A replay of the webcast will be available for 30 days following the live call, and a transcript will be posted on the company's website as soon as it is available. Following the presentation, we will host a short Q&A via the webcast platform. Should you wish to submit a question to the management team, please provide your name and company affiliation.
We will do our best to get to as many of these as we can in the allotted time. Lastly, our safe harbor statement. CoinShares would like to remind everyone that except for historical information contained herein, statements made on today's call and webcast that constitute forward-looking statements are based on currently available information. The company assumes no responsibility to update any such forward-looking statements, and I would like to point you to the risk factors associated with our business, which are detailed in our prospectus. At this time, I will turn the call over to Jean-Marie.
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for taking the time today to join us and hear about CoinShares activity during Q1 2024, an historical quarter on more than one account. Q1 2024 is our most successful quarter ever. Q1 2024 is marking a period of unmatched trends and profitability for CoinShares. Richard will give us all detail on that soon, and before we delve into the specific of our Q1 business activities, let's first take a look at the pivotal developments for both the industry and CoinShares during this landmark quarter. In January 2024, the SEC granted approval for 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs, signaling a significant shift toward integrating digital assets into the mainstream financial markets.
This approval is a testament to our long-standing advocacy for the integration of digital assets, which has been part of our vision for over a decade in Europe. It doesn't only reflect the increasing acceptance of digital assets, but also strongly validates CoinShares' initial investment approach, which focuses on the institutional adoption of digital assets and democratizing access to these assets through regulated listed products. In light of our deal calendar, we completed, in March 2024, the acquisition of Valkyrie Funds ETF business. The strategic acquisition includes a few things. First, a registered investment advisor, second, the sponsor right of a 33 Act ETF, Valkyrie spot Bitcoin ETF, and so the sponsor right of a 40 Act ETF platform issuing right now 3 ETFs, one of them being WGMI, a very specialized Bitcoin miner ETF. CoinShares benefited from great timing and execution of this deal.
As a reminder, the U.S. ETF journey was started by the Winklevoss brothers back in 2014. For CoinShares, as discussed with analysts at the time, we were deliberately not part of the race at the end of Q3 2023 for the lack of the right opportunity. This move in the U.S. is crucial, as it aligns with our commitment to becoming a leading global investment company specializing in digital assets. The integration of our U.S. colleagues will enable us to enhance our operating model across risk, compliance, trading, and distribution, which is vital for our ability to compete on a global stage. Indeed, the U.S. market accounts for 50% of global assets under management and offers unique opportunity for CoinShares in terms of growth.
The pricing panic on December 29, 2023, among U.S. ETF issuers, following some late Friday night Twitter battle, posed serious challenges for most U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF issuers. Let me do some quick math here. 25 basis points headline revenue numbers, and assuming custody is your main cost, issuers are left with 11 basis points of gross profit at best. That means not much net revenue at all, especially if you need to share that with a co-sponsor. Bottom line, unless you have tens of billions of dollars of AUM in this product line, it is a loss-making one. In this environment, our U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF is positioned to be a doorbuster asset in the U.S., which we want to operate at breakeven. Our profitability in the U.S. will not come from what we have been doing in Europe for 10 years.
That would be way too easy, but from more sophisticated products, highlighting our strategic focus. While competition in the U.S. is fierce, especially with industry giants like BlackRock and Fidelity, we accept that our strategy cannot lie in competing with these well-established entities with massive distribution networks. Instead, our competitive advantage is rooted in our deep expertise in the digital asset space and our hedge fund DNA, which resonate with American investors. Looking forward, we are poised to introduce more actively managed strategies according to solar power identity, anticipating the evolution of the ETF sector. We do believe at CoinShares, this sector will increasingly blend the sophistication of hedge fund with the accessibility of regulated listed products such as ETPs. Our dual strengths in financial product structuring and active asset management, coupled with our technical understanding of the digital asset sector-...
Aim to redefine industry standards and position CoinShares at the forefront of innovation in the financial world. Okay, I can see our company secretary telling me with her hands, I need to let our CFO speak. So without further delays, let's take a look at our Q1 financials, and I'm glad to be joined by Richard Nash to present these results. Richard, over to you.
Thanks, Jean-Marie. So as one would expect, given the price movements and the overall activity in the market since the start of the year, we have had a very strong three months across all aspects of the business. The group's adjusted EBITDA for the period has landed at GBP 34.2 million, which is our strongest ever quarter. Obviously, this has been largely due to the price action experienced thus far in 2024, but we're happy to report that as the group continues to grow and evolve, the top-line performance is becoming increasingly diversified, with less reliance being placed on our legacy products as time moves on. Of our total revenue gains and other income, around 45% comes from our asset management business, around 40% from capital markets, and then the remaining 15% for Q1 comes from our principal investment portfolio.
The balance between the two main parts of the business, asset management and capital markets, is consistent with what we have experienced historically. Both business units, of course, thrive when the market is rallying, and they have both posted around 50% of 2023's entire performance in a single quarter. Additionally, we are still heavily focused on keeping control over our cost base to allow such market rallies to impact our bottom line as much as they possibly can, and we are also therefore happy to report an adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter of 78%. This margin is starting to return to levels we experienced back in 2021, and we will continue to do all we can to try and maintain these levels while improving the infrastructure of the wider group.
Moving down to total comprehensive income, which this quarter is largely equivalent to EBITDA, we have generated a total of GBP 34.1 million, and this translates into an adjusted earnings per share of GBP 0.50 over the three-month period to March. While the quarter has been remarkable insofar as it is our best ever quarterly financial result, it has actually been rather unremarkable in other regards, and it's business as usual, a stable cost base and steady diversification of top line in a scalable manner that allows us to reap the benefits of positive movements in the market. So now looking a little bit more closely at our asset management platform, and as a reminder, the components of this business unit as at the end of 2023, were XBT Provider, our CoinShares Physical ETPs, and the CoinShares Blockchain Global Equity Index, or Block Index.
This is now being expanded upon following the successful acquisition of Valkyrie Funds LLC, as we announced in the middle of March. While our financials for Q1 only reflect around two weeks of management fees from these products, as JM has already made a reference to earlier in this presentation, this is a very significant step forward for the group for a variety of reasons. The story within asset management is very consistent with that of the overall group for Q1. It's a performance that is a reflection of the movements in the wider market, coupled with cost control and solid margins. As can be seen from the table here, the overall gross profit margin of the group's asset management platform remains very healthy and very stable.
The management fees of the quarter of GBP 19.5 million are the group's second highest on record, just behind Q4 2021. Now we're seeing more diversification than ever, with CSDS becoming a larger proportion of overall fees each and every quarter. Q1 for CSDS is already in excess of 2023 in its entirety. A core driver for this performance, in addition to the usual drivers of flow and of price, was the introduction of staking capabilities on the CoinShares physical Ethereum product, which has brought a material benefit to both CoinShares and note holders alike. This has more than offset any reduction in fees arising from the decision to reduce the management fee on CS physical Bitcoin from 98 basis points to 35 basis points.
This quarter, what we've seen is hopefully an indicator of the rest of the year to come for CoinShares Physical. Combination of flow and price movements has resulted in CoinShares Physical AUM increasing by 64% in the quarter, from GBP 567 million- GBP 932 million. XBT, meanwhile, opened the year at an AUM of approximately GBP 1.87 billion and closed the quarter with GBP 2.89 billion. This AUM growth, coupled with the Valkyrie acquisition and the Block Index performance for the quarter, which is also strong at GBP 400,000 of fees, brings the total group AUM as of the end of Q1 2024 to GBP 4.77 billion.
As I always like to remind everyone, the flows for our ETP product suites and those of all our key competitors is published in our weekly Digital Funds Flow Report, which is available on our website. Additionally, the level of AUM held within each of our products is disclosed and subject to daily attestation by LedgerLens, an independent firm solution, which is embedded into our website, designed to provide additional transparency and comfort to all our stakeholders. Over the coming quarter or so, we will look to integrate this solution with our newly acquired products within the Valkyrie Funds product suite. Moving on to capital markets. The performance of the capital markets business unit in Q1 continues to demonstrate the benefit that diversification of activities can bring, resulting in total income and gains for the quarter of GBP 17.3 million.
The business unit's performance has brought with it a solid gross profit margin for the quarter of 90%, trend that has been consistently improving since the end of 2022 due to changes that we made internally to our infrastructure. Liquidity Provisioning of GBP 2.8 million, arising from supporting the group's XBT Provider products, have already exceeded 2023 in its entirety, due to the high level of flows we've experienced on the products following the price rally of Q1. Delta Neutral Trading strategies of GBP 0.6 million are a little bit down on last year, although we expect these to pick up during Q2, following a range of strategies deployed towards the end of Q1, which we expect to perform well and have already seen some benefit from moving into Q2.
Fixed income activities have started the year strong, with our digital asset lending and the resulting yield increasing markedly over the quarter, due to the price appreciation driving up the USD value of the digital asset-denominated lending, generating solid yields from a small number of select lending counterparties. The main driver for the business unit, however, remains consistent with that of previous quarters, which is our staking income. The total value of staking yield generated over the first quarter of the year amounts to approximately GBP 5.9 million, which is over 50% of the overall capital markets performance.
And finally, the other gain in the quarter is driven by an FX gain from hedging activities undertaken with brokers, being partially offset by losses associated with the performance of the group's ECO, BCO funds, which represent the group's first products within its hedge fund solutions product suite. So while I provide some closing comments, we can just take a look at the quarterly performance of the group since the start of 2021, which we always do to help visualize the quarter in context. So as already stated, we have had our best quarter on record, both in terms of top-line performance and adjusted EBITDA. We've got strong margins across the board, evidencing the scalability of our business model, and we see Q1 as an excellent stepping stone for the remainder of the year.
And just a couple of things to note that, we haven't touched upon yet. So firstly, we're very happy to announce that following the adoption of the new dividend policy for the group, our first dividend payment to shareholders has now been made earlier this month, with the second payment due at the end of Q2. Secondly, post-quarter end, we disposed of our holding in 3iQ at a price that was equivalent to our carrying value as at year-end, and we generated a gain of approximately GBP 2.3 million when compared to the initial cost price. And finally, just a point on our FTX claim.
So as you may remember, we took a material hit in 2022 regarding our assets held on FTX, and despite receiving multiple offers for our claim, we elected to hold on to it, and we are encouraged by the recent announcements in the market regarding the likelihood of recovery. While we are yet to recognize any of these amounts, our claim stands at approximately GBP 27 million. If recovered, this will result in a direct gain to the consolidated P&L of the group and a significant boost to our financial performance. Further details of everything I've touched upon here are available in the Q1 report, which I encourage everyone to please take a closer look at, and now I will hand back over to Jean-Marie.
Asset management. The first quarter of 2024 in the crypto ETP market was largely defined by the significant impact of the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF launches and a sustainable market in crypto assets. Notably, the asset accumulation of U.S. products exceeded expectations. The standout product, IBIT, gathered an impressive $12 billion of AUM, while even the fourth best performing spot, Bitcoin ETF, accrued over $1 billion of inflow. Also, a considerable portion of this asset likely shifted from substantial outflows from Grayscale's flagship product, the net new flows into the U.S. BTC ETF total nearly $10 billion for Q1. The introduction of major market players into the crypto product space, coupled with substantial interest from U.S. investors, marked a new phase in global crypto ETPs, characterized by intensified competition and a broader range of choices.
In response to this evolving market landscape, we reduced the fees of our CoinShares Physical Bitcoin to 35 basis points in Europe. Despite facing substantial net outflow from BITC in Q1, totaling $51 million, and that's attributed to hedge funds closing the spread position and capitalizing on the USD holidays, CoinShares Digital Securities experienced net inflow into all other products, amounting to $35.7 million. Ethereum, Solana, and Polkadot represented half of these net flows. When compared to competitors, CSDS maintained a leading position, ranking first or second in flows for 12 out of the 15 investment exposures offered on the platform. XBT Provider remained a cornerstone of CoinShares's asset base and businesses, concluding Q1 2024 with $3.6 billion in assets.
As Bitcoin hit new all-time high and the broader crypto market began a bull market phase, investors across various segments started to realize profit, leading to approximately 6.5% of overall asset being withdrawn in outflows. These flows remained steady into the March price peak, with a noticeable increase in de-risking, as Bitcoin price declined from the all-time high. This trend is mild and encouraging when compared to Q1 2021, where we observed a loss of AUM of about $400 million versus $240 million in Q1 2024. We anticipate continued net outflow from the xBT platform as the crypto bull market persists. As the majority of the xBT investor base holds substantial investor gains, it will likely continue. However, price acceleration during such a bull run should offset these outflows in terms of dollar AUM.
The investor commitment to the long-term performance of Bitcoin and Ethereum remains strong, with relatively modest profit-taking, despite significant price increases. Drawing on our team experience with gold product at ETF Securities, we note when normalized for volatility of the underlying, outflows in crypto products are much less severe than the one an issuer can experience in the gold market, for instance. CoinShares is actively engaging with regulators and listing venues to enhance access for European investors to the safety and convenience of crypto investing within ETPs. We are cautiously optimistic about forthcoming regulatory development, particularly in the U.K. and Italy, which will continue to shape the investment landscape in the upcoming months. During the first quarter of 2024, our newly launched American product platform witnessed substantial growth marked by healthy inflows.
Notably, despite the volatile performance of Bitcoin miners this year compared to 2023, our pure play Bitcoin mining ETF successfully attracted significant investor interest. This ETF amassed another GBP 40 million of net inflow in Q1 without any dedicated marketing budget, underscoring the intrinsic appeal and market confidence in this product. On January 10, Valkyrie Funds LLC introduced its spot Bitcoin ETF, following our acquisition of sponsorship rights with Valkyrie Investments in March 2024. This product has distinguished itself by maintaining competitive advantage in terms of fees, liquidity, and slippage. By the close of Q1, it had achieved a remarkable GBP 452.5 million in net inflows. Our strategic objective for this ETF is to provide a highly liquid and cost-effective Bitcoin investment option. Our focus remains on ensuring this product operates cost-neutrally to avoid engaging in a loss leader pricing competition.
Later in the quarter, Valkyrie Fund unveiled a new ETF designed to offer investors 2x leverage return on daily Bitcoin futures prices. This innovative approach has garnered GBP 44.6 million net inflows by the end of Q1. As the cryptocurrency market maintains its upward trajectory, and as we continue to enhance our operational integration and brand recognition in the U.S., we anticipate growing investor interest in this affordably priced leverage strategy ETF. Let's look at our capital markets and institutional solutions activity. Let's start with our capital markets division, which experienced a strong quarter, benefiting significantly from the increased trading volume triggered by the launch of spot Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. This period of intensified activity was further amplified by increased market volatility, particularly noticeable in March, which supported our liquidity provisioning activities. Additionally, our staking activity has continued to generate consistent revenue.
Our lending book remained well-diversified and stable, extending across a variety of non-crypto-native counterparties. This diversification plays a crucial role in our ability to manage risk effectively and maintain stability amidst market fluctuation. In response to the highly volatile market conditions, our team has intensified its focus on risk management, and more particularly on counterparty risk management. This involved more frequent oversight of counterparty's exposure and various risk limits. It also involved reassessing some certainty we may have on certain counterparty in a different market environment. A special note of gratitude is extended here to our operation team, who have been exceptionally dedicated, working around the clock to ensure that we operate within our designated risk framework. Their commitment has been instrumental in navigating the complexity of the current financial landscape.
Meanwhile, the hedge fund solution division has been actively developing new trading strategies while adjusting to the new market dynamic introduced by the launch of the spot Bitcoin ETF. Building a solid track record is a gradual process, and the division is planning to expand its distribution capabilities in the U.S. over the next quarter. This expansion will enhance our engagement with external LPs, enabling us to keep them well-informed of our development and progresses. The strategic move is aimed at bolstering our position and maintaining momentum in evolving market conditions. All right, time to conclude this review. As outlined in our previous communication, the board of directors has sanctioned a new dividend policy for the fiscal year 2023. This policy is a testament to our ongoing growth, strategic acquisition, and ever-widening global footprint, all sustained by consistent profitability.
We have committed to rewarding our shareholders with an annual dividend paid quarterly on average. The first installment of this dividend was disbursed on the third of May, and we have planned three more record dates throughout the remainder of the year. Completing our most successful quarter to date has filled me with confidence that this year will be the most thriving in our group history. This period has highlighted our capabilities to stimulate growth and achieve robust business outcomes. Over time, we have transformed into an organization that is not only stronger and more focused, but is also experiencing continued growth. This evolution support our positive outlook for the future and our ongoing commitment to delivering value to all our stakeholders. This is closing CoinShares management Q1 2024 remarks, and operator, can you now open the floor for questions, please?
Thank you, Jean-Marie. We've got a number of questions today. The first comes from Kevin Dede from HCW. Please describe the loss on the certificate liability. What does it refer to exactly, and is it a one-time loss?
Thanks, Kevin. I'll take this one. So the loss on certificate liability, no, that's not a one-time loss. That will be in the accounts every single quarter, and it represents the movement effectively on the liability owing to, to noteholders of our products. So when we have a large loss on certificate liability, that effectively means the price of digital assets increases-has increased, our AUM has increased, and we effectively owe more to the, the holders of the ETPs, and that movement will always be offset by a corresponding increase in our digital asset holdings.
Thank you, Richard. Another one from Kevin: Please offer a little more color regarding CoinShares' position regarding FTX settlement. There are reports suggesting that all money could be returned to investors. How likely do you see this?
... Well, I, I touched upon this a little bit earlier in the presentation. Obviously, it's something we're watching with a very keen eye due to the quantum of our claim. And we have, of course, been approached numerous times in the past year or so with offers to buy our claim, which we've always turned down. And I think that in and of itself provides a little bit of an indication as to what we think the final outcome will be. In regards to timing and, you know, the point in time in which we'll recognize that in our accounts, that all remains to be seen.
We're taking a prudent approach in regards to recognizing anything, but we're obviously holding on to that claim, and you know, hoping we see some kind of benefit over the course of this year, regardless of size.
Thank you very much. One for you, Jean-Marie: How does the product introduction schedule expanding beyond the current investment products look for the U.S. market? And how do you intend to leverage Valkyrie's position?
Thanks, Jerry. First of all, we already launched two products in Q1, so we're not short of launching product already in 2024. The product expansion is a function of the pipeline we're having, the demand we're receiving as well. We're not in the business of launching, as we saw in Europe, everything and hoping for the best. We want to launch very targeted products in the U.S. The U.S. market is extremely competitive and has been commoditized by the launch of the Bitcoin ETF already. So we want to be sure to bring to the market stuff which are very complementary and almost orthogonal to what other people are doing, to be able to compete and offer higher risk products to our clients.
Thank you very much. Another from Kevin: What drove the decision to divest from 3iQ?
Not the lack of love for Fred, for sure. Who has done an extraordinary job to exit 3iQ investments through Monex. Monex made an offer for 3iQ, which is difficult to refuse. Monex paid 9x the top line, pretty much. If you compare that to what CoinShares is trading at, it was difficult to say no to such an offer. And also, you know, when the competition happening in the US was making the Canadian specific market less attractive to us, so we thought it was the right time to take profit. You know, bear in mind, a 3iQ investment is an investment, and an investment, at some point, needs to be monetized and not just stay on the balance sheet as a dead asset.
So we made a lot of money on this investment, through the investment directly, but also through all the trading opportunity it created for us, and we've come to the conclusion of the journey. We're still very good friend with Fred, and Fred is a happy shareholder of CoinShares as well, so we're all in the one big boat.
Thank you very much. One last one from Kevin: Please, could you offer a view on Q2, based on what appears to be a less volatile crypto price? Also, what has CoinShares done to develop the business, accumulate AUM in Europe, and now with Valkyrie, the Valkyrie acquisition? How are you thinking about expanding Valkyrie's brand into the U.S.?
So... okay, it's a long question from Kevin. So let's break that down step by step. So Q2, looking forward statement, look, we're not really, in general, giving looking forward statement. We have always through Q2 already. The public information are there to show you how AUM is comporting. On average, you know, our average price for asset on our, on our balance sheet is pretty good, so we should be in the same proximity as what we've already seen before. So I'm going to just not say much more on the forward-looking statement. When it come to Europe, our team in Europe is doing a fantastic job to go after the pocket of liquidity which are not being addressed and which are being often a good solution, and Frank and his team are at work with that.
When it come to the U.S., we are dividing a plan as we speak. There's a strong integration pipeline being driven on both sides of the Atlantic, to make sure that the Valkyrie, or what used to be called Valkyrie, is becoming CoinShares, and is becoming CoinShares with the same kind of rigorous principle and approach to what we do and how we do it, and that will drive the client acquisition and AUM acquisition as well.
Thank you very much. We've got a few questions from Albert Brooke of ABG. The first one is: There's a significant decrease in the amount due from brokers and a new line of other current assets in the balance sheet. Is this only accounting related, or is there a shift in strategy?
I'll take this one. It's no real shift in strategy. It's largely accounting related. Over time, our balances due to and due from brokers will fluctuate depending on movements in the market and what we're looking to do within the capital markets team. So it's not indicative of any change in strategy, no.
Thank you very much. Another from Albert: Is there any Valkyrie AUM that is off balance sheet? Is it affected by the sponsorship split that we're changing in Q2?
I can take the first half of this question. The Valkyrie AUM is all currently off balance sheet. So I think if you look at the beginning of the report, there's a breakdown of our quarter-end AUM, which lands at approximately GBP 4.7 billion of AUM. The vast majority of that is on our balance sheet. That's the assets held in respect of hedging XBT Provider and collateralizing the CSDS products. The AUM in respect of the Block Index and the Valkyrie products is off balance sheet.
... Thank you very much. The next one from Albert: The large gain of effect, of FX for other in capital markets, is this related to the hedge fund solutions, and should we consider this as a one-off or some other recurring activity?
So first of all, no, it's not in relation to the hedge fund solutions. The hedging activities undertaken within the capital markets team are designed to protect against FX fluctuations between USD and euro and CHF. Euro and CHF being the currencies in which the XBT Provider ETPs are issued in. So there will always be a bit of a gain or a loss in relation to that activity in any given quarter. So it's recurring in that regard, so these hedging activities are always being undertaken. I think it's fairly one-off in terms of its quantum this quarter, just due to the nature of the FX moves between USD and EUR CHF that we saw over Q1. So recurring, but kind of one-off in its quantum this time around.
Thank you very much. We've now got a number of questions from Milosz Papst at Edison Group. The first being: Please, can you provide any details on the consideration paid for the Valkyrie funds?
Okay. I'm going to be very careful because our U.S. compliance is certainly on the call, so I'm not gonna be slapped after this call. Richard, correct me if I'm wrong, the Q4 2023 report didn't mention any strong consideration in cash going out, nothing in Q1. So obviously, the cash consideration was kind of like, not of very much importance, and it is driven by an earn-out consideration over the next three years, based on the bottom line result of the American activity. So nothing more, nothing less, a very clean deal.
Very much. Another from Milosz: Has there been any meaningful contribution from lending through DeFi protocols to your CSC engaged income in Q1?
In short, the answer to that is, is no. The lending activities within capital markets, which manifest on the fixed income activities line, which are approximately GBP 2 million for the quarter, all represent digital asset lending to a very small number of select counterparties. So no, nothing, nothing in relation to the DeFi protocols for Q1.
Thank you very much,
I'm not familiar, but actually, to be transparent, we borrow for a week on Compound.
Yeah.
Thank you. Again, from Milosz: When staking Ethereum, do you use restaking solutions such as the EigenLayer?
So it's a very interesting question, actually, because Paris has become the center of the world when it comes to Web3 and staking and restaking. And we have a long meeting with the team at Kiln around, you know, the value proposition around restaking, and notably EigenLayer. The EigenLayer proposal and the $15 billion worth of total lock value is an illustration that people don't really learn the lesson from the Luna accident. And as a result, CoinShares learned the lesson, and CoinShares didn't touch at all EigenLayer. So restaking is not something we're exploring right now. We think the windows are very wide open... or the door is very wide open to get in. The way out is much narrower, and there is a lot of protocol risk which is not assumed.
You are just stacking up protocol risk, with very little number of engineers and cryptographer able to understand what are the cybersecurity risk around this contract. So at the moment, it's something we didn't touch. It's something we are studying, something we are looking at, and we are engaging on more of the R&D story, but not at all as a production and revenue contribution, I would say, I think.
Very much. What impact on digital assets industry do you expect from the launch of spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs in Hong Kong? Shall we assume it will be limited as mainland Chinese investors are unlikely to have access to these products?
No. So it's an interesting point. There's a lot of theory online, and people are making their own assumption on that. With my global advisor time, I spent a decent amount of time in Hong Kong and mainland China. Lewis, which is running our hedge fund solution business, used to be based in Hong Kong for 10 years and working for Segantii. So we think we have a very clear understanding of what's happening. The Hong Kong Connect effectively hub, which will authorize mainland China investors to buy the ETF, is effectively a bridge which is existing. The bridge to be activated require at least six months of training for the product. So right now, it's not even an option.
And even if it was an option, so far, it has not been approved for the Bitcoin futures ETFs, which are listed in Hong Kong, by Samsung and, not familiar with all the issuers, but there was also CSOP. So there were two issuers in Hong Kong, who issue ETFs by futures, which were not authorized on Trade Connect. So, bottom line, the new issuers of the spot Bitcoin in Hong Kong for the retail market, on mainland China shoppers, regarding reading the tea leaves, you may want to believe there is a bit of a story there. So far, there's nothing at that point indicating that, but, you know, it may well open in a not too far future, but, like, the indication right now is, like, not open.
Thank you very much. The final question then from Milosz: What is the near-term potential in terms of inflows to the U.S. Bitcoin spot ETF from major US wealth management, management platforms and registered investment advisors? Do you think they have already started offering the ETFs, or are they still in a product due diligence phase?
So again, we do it with a touch of a pinch of salt to be sure we're not, you know, making any mistake with our newly regulated activity in the U.S. The 13F filing, which is this kind of overview of who did what, over GBP 100 million of AUM in the U.S. on the product, is just out or out by the 15 of May, which was the deadline. There is some interesting names there. Interesting, but also surprising that there is no bigger name, which show that a lot of people are still in due diligence mode. A lot of the wirehouse in the U.S. have their own policy around launching new products and want to see some track record of the product before adding them to the platform.
So for the vast majority of the allocators and the big wirehouse, we are still in the internal educational process, internal approval process to make sure this can be distributed to clients. Some of them already have it on the retail registration only, which means the client need to ask for it and place an order, and the sales team can sell it. So we're still in the very, very early innings in the U.S. market, and, you know, I think Wisconsin Pension Fund announced today they were a big shareholder in the Bitcoin ETF or one of them at least. So, you know, the names are coming out slowly but surely, but the vast majority is not touched yet.
Thank you very much. That brings us to the end of our questions. Thank you everyone for joining today.