Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – The team behind the first regulated bitcoin hedge fund, Global Advisors Bitcoin Investment Fund (GABI), and XBT Provider AB, the Swedish-domiciled issuer of two exchange-traded bitcoin notes, announced the launch of CoinShares – a new brand for their portfolio of cryptocurrency-related investment vehicles.
After issuing two Nordic Nasdaq-listed bitcoin tracking exchange-traded notes designed to mirror the return of bitcoin, XBT Provider announced at the end of September an agreement to be acquired by CoinShares Limited. The former owner of XBT, Global Advisors Limited, who is also behind the aforementioned bitcoin hedge fund, owns three-quarters of the shares of CoinShares.
After the recent announcements, the CoinShares family of products includes both managed strategies and exchange-traded products. The platform currently comprises the two exchange-traded bitcoin notes mentioned above and two funds: GABI and CoinShares Fund I, a self-managed fund that trades cryptocurrencies and participates in selected initial coin offerings. The group manages $300 million in crypto-assets.
The grouping of these four investment vehicles into one product is designed to build a powerful brand identity in the fast-growing crypto-asset space. The CoinShares team aims to brand their pool of products similarly to iShares, the world’s largest family of exchange-traded funds managed by BlackRock. Put differently, the team aims to provide investors with a familiar brand they can trust.
“We are bringing these pioneering products under one brand so that investors can grow with a familiar partner. It’s the next logical step in professionalizing crypto-finance – as more assets mature in the space, more investors will demand exposure; and we will continue our focus on providing professional grade access. This is about giving those investors a standard and brand they can trust as we enter this next phase of crypto-investment,” says Daniel Masters, Co-Principal at CoinShares.
The team behind the aforementioned vehicles is composed of alumni from JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers and State Street, who have nearly 20 years of experience in alternative investment management. The institutional-grade Bitcoin investment strategy (GABI) returned 135.5% year-to-date through the end of September, after gaining 71.3% in 2016 and 37.4% in 2015. One should note, however, that these returns are subject to extreme volatility, as evidenced by the loss of 24.7% incurred in September that followed a whopping gain of 62.4% in August.
