An Asian asset management company has successfully cleared licensing conditions with Honk Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission regarding a Bitcoin fund. It now aims to surpass $100 million in assets under management (AUM) in its first year.
Venture Smart Asia is an Asian asset management company, and its blockchain arm, Arrano Capital, became the first asset manager to successfully clear licensing conditions with the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) this month for the rollout of a Bitcoin fund.
As such, this will become the first SFC-approved Bitcoin fund, giving institutional investors a regulated path to enter the market.
It’s also worth noting that there have been previous asset managers who received licenses. Still, those failed to mee the full criteria to run pure cryptocurrency funds that could be marketed to professional investors.
Now that the regulatory hurdles in front of the Bitcoin fund are through, the company also revealed its rather ambitious goals.
Per the report, Arrano capital seeks to raise more than $100 million in total AUM within its very first year.
According to the Chief Investment Officer of the fund, Avaneesh Acquilla, they will also aim to launch a second product, scheduled for later this year. It will be an actively managed fund that operates a basket of cryptocurrencies.
“We decided to launch this fund to address market demand from professional investors who are increasingly focused on Bitcoin as an alternative store of value. […] Ultimately, for Bitcoin to be widely accepted and for people to trust it, there needs to be regulation.” – Said Acquilla.
On another note, as CryptoPotato recently reported, the private American venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, will be raising $450 million for its second cryptocurrency investment fund. So far, the company managed to raise a total of $300 million in 2018 and is looking to expand.