This article first appeared in Wealth, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on September 28, 2026 – October 4, 2026
Halogen Capital, the country’s first licensed digital asset fund manager, is in the process of launching Malaysia’s first digital currency exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Its founder and CEO Hann Liew says the firm is preparing a shariah-compliant Bitcoin ETF, potentially giving millions of investors with a Central Depository System account at Bursa Malaysia a regulated avenue to trade digital currency on the exchange.
This is made possible under the sixth revision of the Guidelines on Exchange-Traded Funds (Revised Guidelines) by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), which came into effect on March 2. Bursa Malaysia subsequently amended its Main Market Listing Requirements, among others, to facilitate such products.
“Digital currency” is defined under the Capital Markets and Services (Prescription of Securities) (Digital Currency and Digital Token) Order 2019. A “digital currency ETF”, meanwhile, refers to an ETF approved by SC under the Revised Guidelines that invests in digital currencies and seeks to generate returns by tracking a benchmark.
Individual and retail investors can already trade digital assets, including Bitcoin, on licensed digital asset exchanges (DAX) such as Luno, Hata, Sinegy and MX Global. But wrapping them in an ETF would be valuable for institutional investors looking for digital asset exposure, says Liew.
These fund managers, who manage large sums of money and big portfolios, want to access digital assets conveniently and securely, without needing to set up a cryptocurrency wallet and maintain a separate account.
They also want an overview of all their investments in one portfolio for insights, analysis and decision-making, instead of carving out digital assets into another pocket.
“Institutional investors wouldn’t want to separate [their digital asset] investments [into another portfolio]. They would want it within their existing one, right? This is a key reason the global crypto ETF size has grown exponentially in recent years, at a rate faster than any other asset class, historically,” Liew says.
He adds that Halogen’s shariah Bitcoin ETF could be available for trading by year’s end if the application process goes smoothly. While he is unable to provide much detail on the upcoming product, some specifics can be reasonably inferred.
For instance, given that it is a shariah-compliant product, which generally requires its units to be backed by real assets — the actual Bitcoin in this case — Halogen’s Bitcoin ETF could allow investors to exchange ETF units for Bitcoin.
It could allow for “in-kind creation” and “in-kind redemption”, meaning investors purchase the ETF units with Bitcoin or sell those units for Bitcoin, instead of fiat currency. “This is not mandatory, but possible,” says Liew.
As Bitcoin is predominantly denominated in US dollars, investors could also be given the option to gain exposure in either ringgit or USD.
The final push to RM1 bil
In mid-2024, Halogen’s founders announced their goal of hitting RM1 billion in assets under management (AUM) within three years, after crossing the RM100 million mark. It was met with scepticism in certain quarters, as it was deemed too ambitious.
The firm hit its RM500 million AUM milestone in September this year. As its first product was launched in December 2023, it leaves Liew with roughly three months to hit the target. The remaining sum would rely heavily on the successful launch of its shariah Bitcoin ETF, he says.
“The ETF will be a big driver of that objective. Even if we don’t hit that target by year’s end, we believe we will get very close to it.
“We are at half a billion already, and I would say the second half should be easier than the first. We aren’t worried, as we will eventually get there.”
Liew says Halogen has a roadmap in place. It recently rolled out the Halogen Partners Portfolio, a business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) solution that provides multi-asset model portfolios to individual investors with as little as RM1,000 through licensed intermediaries.
The three model portfolios invest not only in digital assets, but also equities, fixed income and gold, signalling the firm’s ambition to expand beyond cryptocurrency.
The firm’s ambition to look beyond digital assets is reflected in its expanding investment team. “We are a crypto specialist, and we have had a bond specialist in-house for the last four years. Now, we have equity capability in-house, with an equity fund manager and a couple of equity traders,” he says.
Its other products include the Halogen Shariah Bitcoin Fund, Ethereum Fund, Crypto Titans Fund, MYR Liquid Fund, Ringgit Income Fund and Enhanced Income Fund.
The firm wants to focus on the ETF market, which has grown rapidly in Asia in recent years, Liew observes.
He says the Asian ETF markets were not growing much before 2020, except for Hong Kong. But the tables have turned in the past five years in markets such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, and he expects the same to occur in Malaysia.
Growing the local ETF market is also in line with inclusivity, one of the four themes under SC’s fourth Capital Market Masterplan (2026-2030), which, put simply, means providing the masses with greater access to various investment products.
“We strongly believe that the ETF is a good instrument for digital currency, but we are seeing a lot more benefits in the structure for other asset classes. As a company, we are looking to invest more in the ETF business,” he says.
“Ultimately, it is the underlying that people want exposure to. If people want it, it will be successful. For us at Halogen, we are 100% focused on what people want.”
According to financial data platform PitchBook, Halogen raised RM13.3 million in venture funding in a deal led by 500 Global and Kenanga Investment Bank on Dec 15, 2025.
Its other investors, which hold minority stakes in the firm, include the Digital Currency Group (DCG), Penjana Kapital, The Hive Southeast Asia and Sunway iLabs.
DCG is a US-based investment firm specialising in digital currency and decentralised technology, and the parent company of Luno; Penjana Kapital was consolidated into Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s Jelawang Capital.
Liew says Halogen has always been on the lookout for strategic investors who can help grow its business.
“We may look to raise new funds if our ETF plan goes well, as we want to expand more into that business.”
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