The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has approved the first crypto fund under Swiss law. This investment fund enables both institutional and professional investors in Switzerland to participate in the emerging digital asset class. A big step for the Crypto Valley.
For the first time, FINMA has approved a Swiss fund that invests primarily in crypto assets, that is to say in assets based on the blockchain or distributed ledger technology. The fund is part of a cooperation between three Swiss firms and an important step for large scale crypto adoption in the traditional financial world. Distribution of the crypto fund is restricted to qualified investors.
Cooperation of three Swiss firms
The first crypto fund in Switzerland is administered by PvB Pernet von Ballmoos AG. SEBA Bank AG acts as the custodian bank. In this regard, Crypto Finance (Asset Management) AG leverages its experience in digital assets as manager of the fund, further growing its portfolio of institutional crypto investment vehicles. As with traditional investment funds, segregating the assets from the custodian’s balance sheet eliminates counterparty risk for investors.
“Crypto Finance is pleased to launch the first Swiss crypto fund, supervised by FINMA and launched with strong Swiss partners PvB and SEBA Bank. The investment fund will allow clients of innovative wealth managers to participate in this emerging asset class and further diversify their portfolio in a safe and regulated manner.” – Bernadette Leuzinger, CEO of Asset Management at Crypto Finance
Qualified investors such as Swiss wealth management banks, asset managers, pension funds and other professional investors who collectively manage several 100 billion Swiss francs in assets have been waiting for such a regulated fund. This passive investment fund tracks the performance of the Crypto Market Index 10, which is managed by SIX Swiss Exchange. The goal of the Crypto Market Index 10 is to reliably measure the performance of the largest and most liquid crypto assets and tokens and provide a benchmark for this asset class.
Two firsts for Swiss wealth management
This first and only Swiss crypto investment fund is the result of a close collaboration between Crypto Finance and SEBA Bank, the Swiss crypto bank that provides custody for it. Two years ago SEBA obtained a Swiss banking and securities house license, which paved the way for this cooperation.
“As a result, asset managers can now offer crypto asset-based strategies to a broader range of clients by using Swiss-based investment fund structures with SEBA Bank as an approved custodian. We are very pleased to be able to offer investors liquid mutual funds that use crypto assets as their underlying investment universe. This is another step in the evolution for investments in digital assets.” – Guido Buehler, CEO of SEBA Bank
PvB Managing Directors Philippe Keller and Christian von Ballmoos are equally excited that thanks to the excellent cooperation of all parties involved, this complex project can now be launched on firm operational ground.
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