Page 11 - bne_Tech_04_2019

Blockchain & Cryptocurrency
April 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 11
ITI Funds launch a new cryptocurrency tracking ETF fund
Ben Aris in Berlin
ITI Funds, the multi-product financial asset management platform, has launched the ITI Funds Crypto Index Fund (ticker: ITIFC), the world’s first index fund with professional custody and insurance. The fund tracks a basket of top crypto-assets but using a traditional index- tracking style set up, the company said in a press release on March 7.
The fund is domiciled in Luxembourg and offers professional investors an easy-to-access platform to tap into the new and rapidly growing asset class via the conventional purchases of fund units. ITI Funds believes the main advantage is a legal compliant transparent infrastructure.
“This jurisdiction has been chosen due to its well- established legal regulation, asset-custodianship and investor convenience. The fund’s structure facilitates total transparency and legal compliance, and its operation is supported by leading service providers in Luxembourg as well as widely known US market professionals,” says Marat Krimskiy, the manager of the project.
The fund is based on ITI Funds fund platform in Luxembourg that have dramatically dropped the barriers to entry for would-be fund managers,
as described by ITI Funds CEO Gleb Yakovlev in a recent interview with bne IntelliNews. Luxembourg is home to the world’s second-largest volume of fund assets under management, worth $4bn.
The ITI Funds Crypto Index Fund tracks an index called ITI Funds Crypto Index which is made up from a basket of the 30-biggest cryptocurrencies
ITI Funds has launched the ITI Funds Crypto Index Fund (IFCIF), the world’s first index fund that tracks a basket of crypto-assets
with the largest market capitalizations including: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, ZCash, Stellar, and Ethereum Classic. The top- 30 list is regularly updated based on changes
in liquidity and trading volumes, as well as the availability of safe custody.
“We are excited to launch this index with ITI Funds,” said Thomas Kettner, Managing Director at MV Index Solutions (MVIS), which partnered with ITI Funds in the launch. “Starting with nine digital assets, the index is a dynamic instrument which covers the broader market while at the same time staying within the safest and most recognized names of this new asset class.”
The fund works on principles similar to those
of common ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds). The idea of the fund is based on the received wisdom that following a market, or tracking an index, is often more profitable in the long-run than active asset management. However, the idea of an index tracking-style fund in the world of cryptocurrency is still unusual.
The fund’s portfolio is comprised of well-known crypto assets that are eligible for professional custody with the requisite insurance. The fund’s assets are secured by a licensed institutional custodian with Lloyds syndicate insurance, which is also unusual for a fund.
The diversity of cryptocurrencies is designed
to smooth out the volatility and the maximum weight of any single cryptocurrency in the index is capped at 15%.