According to the Bloomberg report, Arrano Capital, the blockchain arm of Venture Smart Asia, announced the rollout of a new Bitcoin fund in Hong Kong. Arrano Capital reported that it had met the conditions for a licensed crypto fund by the local Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), and it is the first company to do so. The venture capital firm is seeking a target of $100 million under management for its first year.
Arrano Capital hopes to launch a second fund dealing with a basket of tokens later in 2020.
Arrano Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Avaneesh Acquilla said that their first attempt is only a tracker fund, buying and selling bitcoin. The firm’s goal is to pass $100 million in digital assets under management in its first year. Avaneesh Acquilla further revealed that the firm hopes to launch a second actively managed fund dealing with a basket of tokens sometime later in 2020. CIO said that they 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, he added.
Arrano Capital is the first approved crypto fund in Hong Kong.
Since the SFC announced it would begin to regulate crypto exchanges in October 2018 formally, the commission has issued a very few approvals. Blockchain financial services firm Diginex was one of the first companies to receive permission to regulate digital assets in June last year. Arrano Capital, the blockchain arm of Venture Smart Asia, is the first approved crypto fund in Hong Kong. Being the first official crypto fund in the special economic region, it allows average investors a window into BTC. Other firms that have not met all the SFC criteria can only market to professional investors.
