Hong Kong gave nod to its first exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the performance of the cryptocurrency token Solana, before the US, as the city aims to establish its status as a digital asset hub, according to a report by South China Morning Post.

ChinaAMC (HK), the Hong Kong division of Chinese fund manager China Asset Management, began accepting subscriptions for its new spot Solana ETF on Wednesday, following approval from the Securities and Futures Commission last week.

The ETF directly holds Solana and will start trading on Monday. According to the prospectus, it aims to offer returns that “closely correspond” to the token’s performance before fees and expenses.

SOL, the native token of the Solana blockchain network had a total market value just above US$100 billion, according to data from CoinGecko. SOL was trading at $194.35 at 1:08 pm on Saturday, October 24.

The Solana network was established in 2017 and gained significant popularity in 2021 during the non-fungible token surge. It has since become one of Ethereum’s main competitors, the report said.

The ChinaAMC Solana ETF, Asia’s first of its kind, enables trading in Hong Kong dollars, yuan, and US dollars. Canada introduced the world’s first Solana ETF in April, but the US has not yet approved any.

The ETF aims to enhance the digital asset ambitions of Hong Kong, which have encountered a setback due to heightened scrutiny from Beijing amid excessive market enthusiasm over stablecoins and real-world asset tokenisation projects.

In April last year, Hong Kong approved its first six spot crypto ETFs, overtaking the US in introducing spot ether ETFs.

The report further mentioned that ChinaAMC, managing a bitcoin and an ether ETF, warned that the value of Solana could drop sharply in a short time, potentially to zero. The firm also noted that in 2022, Solana experienced its largest single-day decline of 42.28%.