Mirae Asset prepares bitcoin covered call ETF launch: chairman

Mirae Asset Financial Group is preparing to launch a bitcoin covered call exchange traded fund (ETF) for global investors to foray into the cryptocurrency ETF market, its founder and Chairman Park Hyeon-joo said early this month.

“Mirae Asset is working strategically to launch a bitcoin covered call exchange traded fund,” Park told the ETF Rally 2025 it hosted in Hawaii early this month. He did not elaborate.

Covered call ETFs use stocks, bonds and funds as underlying assets and sell call options on the securities in their portfolios. Their sellers earn additional income through premium payments from the call option buyers.

The South Korean mutual fund pioneer is also looking to launch its first AI-driven product in the first half of this year, Park added.

Mirae Asset’s AI arm WealthSpot is working to release the product in partnership with Global X EFTs, its New York-based ETF provider.

“AI should not be just a simple tool but the DNA of future growth,” Park said at the annual gathering, attended by about 80 senior executives of its domestic and global operations and ETF experts.

As the world’s 12th-largest ETF company, Mirae Asset manages ETFs in major overseas markets, including the US, Canada, Australia, India and Japan with combined net assets of 202 trillion won ($140 billion).

Particularly, Tiger ETFs, which track US stocks, have driven its growth in the ETF market, said Park.

“The trajectory of Mirae Asset's ETF assets, skyrocketing from $82 billion in 2022 to the current $140 billion, is remarkable,” Park told The Korea Economic Daily in a recent telephone interview. 

Mirae Asset’s push into AI-driven services comes amid fierce competition with Samsung Asset Management Co. for the top spot in the domestic ETF sector. To achieve this, they are aggressively cutting brokerage fees.

Last year, the chairman said AI would provide new growth momentum and enable the offering of various investment products at significantly lower fees.

Park urged his employees to develop “pioneering and killer products” that could bring innovation to financial markets.

“All (Mirae Asset) companies should explore diverse investment opportunities, prioritizing competitive markets such as the US and China. They also need to introduce global products tailored to local investors in those regions to enable them to benefit from global products,” he noted.

At ETF Rally 2025, Park also discussed possible business cooperation with Goldenberg Hehmeyer LLP (GHCO), a liquidity provider to financial markets in the UK.

Write to Man-Su Choe at bebop@hankyung.com
 


Yeonhee Kim edited this article.