HONG KONG: Six spot bitcoin and ether exchange traded funds (ETFs) gained in their Hong Kong debut on Tuesday, with the three bitcoin ETFs climbing more than 3% in early trade.

The debuts mark the first launch of spot cryptocurrency ETFs in Asia and come just three months after the U.S. launched its first ETFs to track spot bitcoin.

Spot bitcoin ETFs launched by China AMC, Harvest and Bosera had gained 3.6%, 4.3% and 3.7%, respectively as of 1:50 GMT.

Cryptocurrency is banned in mainland China, but Hong Kong has been promoting itself as a global digital asset hub, part of a drive to maintain its allure as a financial center.

The U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs have drawn roughly $12 billion in net inflows, contributing to a surge in bitcoin's price earlier this year.

(Reporting by Summer Zhen and Sam Shen; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)