Swiss Regulator Approves First Crypto Fund: Asset Manager Says ‘It’s an Exceptional Achievement’

Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has approved the first Swiss crypto fund. It is managed by asset manager Crypto Finance and custodied by Seba Bank. “For the first time, FINMA has approved a Swiss fund that invests primarily in cryptoassets,” said the regulator.

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) announced Wednesday that it “has approved the first crypto fund according to Swiss law.” The regulator elaborated:

For the first time, FINMA has approved a Swiss fund that invests primarily in cryptoassets.

FINMA explained that the fund is called “Crypto Market Index Fund,” noting that it is “an investment fund according to Swiss law belonging to the category ‘other funds for alternative investments’ with particular risks.”

The financial regulator added that there are some requirements tied to the approval. For example, the fund “may only invest in established cryptoassets with a sufficiently large trading volume.” In addition, the investments must be made through “established counterparties and platforms” based in member countries of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Crypto Finance (Asset Management) AG independently announced Wednesday the launch of the FINMA-approved Swiss crypto fund. It is administered by fund management company Pvb Pernet von Ballmoos AG, with Seba Bank AG as the custodian and Crypto Finance as the manager. Crypto Finance described:

For Crypto Finance, as the first asset manager to launch a Swiss crypto asset investment fund, it is an exceptional achievement to launch this crypto investment fund together with strong Swiss partners.

The fund is restricted to qualified investors, such as Swiss wealth management banks, asset managers, pension funds, and other professional investors, “who collectively manage several trillion CHF in assets,” Crypto Finance detailed, adding:

This passive investment fund from Crypto Finance tracks the performance of the Crypto Market Index 10, which is administered by the SIX Swiss Exchange.

According to the exchange’s website, “The objective of the SIX Crypto Market Index 10 is to reliably measure the performance of the largest and most liquid crypto assets and tokens and provide an investable benchmark for this asset class. The prices for the crypto assets and tokens are obtained from multiple crypto exchanges and trading venues.”

Meanwhile, Seba Bank announced Tuesday that it “has been granted a license to act as a custodian bank for Swiss collective investment schemes pursuant to Art. 72 CISA (KAG).” The bank added, “This is the first license granted in Switzerland by the Swiss Financial Market Authority (FINMA) to a custodian bank focused on digital assets.”

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