Launch of 1st Bitcoin Mutual Fund in Europe

It has been announced that an asset manager in France has now launched what is the 1st bitcoin mutual fund in Europe that is going to be centered around bitcoin.

This announcement was made on Wednesday and the alternate Tobam investment fund is attempting to attract any institutional investors who may be interested in dealing with cryptocurrencies but don’t know how. This means that investors will not have to hold the bitcoin directly themselves, which makes it a lot easier on their behalf.

It was reported that this fund was launched following their approval from the leading financial regulator in France, Autorité des Marchés Financiers. PWC will be conducting the audit services and Caceis, which is the asset servicing group of Crédit Agricole, will be the ones who will be taking custody of the bitcoins that are related to the fund.

The president of Tobam showcased how the move to start this fund highlights how his firm always strives to remain at the leading edge of the innovation curve and maximising the effectiveness of their policies when it comes to their investors.

They do seem to be quite bullish about the future performance of the fund, with expectations being that the fund will see its funds grow to $400 million over the course of the next few years. They have already gotten certain investors on board in the launch period and they also have a lot of people interested who are looking for a way to get into the world of cryptocurrency investing themselves and are currently exploring their options.

It comes as no surprise that institutional investors are looking for ways in which to get involved with the cryptocurrency markets. It seems that this will not be the only fund of its kind as surely more will follow suit in the near future.

There has been a lot of chatter regarding hedge funds entering into the space, but Tobam is the first to do so in Europe. It was only recently that a major hedge fund in the United Kingdom called Man Group was looking to get involved following their launch of a derivatives product.

Luke Ellis is the CEO and he talked about plans they had for introducing bitcoin futures contracts in the near future. They currently hold over $100 billion in assets under management and he said that it was very likely they would be utilising cryptocurrencies in their investment universe.

While there are a lot of investors bullish about cryptocurrencies, many in Wall Street are comparing it to tulip-mania that existed in the Netherlands in the 17th century when the price of tulips reached astronomical prices.

This comparison originated from the UBS chief economist when it comes to financial services, Paul Donavan. As well as comparing bitcoin to the tulip crisis of 1637, he also compared it to PetSmart and the hyperinflation experienced in the Weimar Republic in advance of the 2nd World War.

While he has his criticisms of cryptocurrencies, he claims to be a big fan of the blockchain. Time will tell if Donavan will be proven wrong or not.

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