Coinbase Custody, a unit of San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, has recently teamed up with New York-based investment firm Wilshire Phoenix to launch a cryptocurrency fund capped at $500 million.
According to a recently published press release, Wilshire Phoenix expects the fund to be launched later this year, to provide its clients exposure to bitcoin through a “novel approach” that’s reportedly set to mitigate “some of the risks” associated with the flagship cryptocurrency’s volatility.
WP will launch a fund in 2018, which will provide some exposure to Bitcoin. We believe our patent-pending system will make it easier to hold and purchase BTC, especially in partnership w/ @CoinbaseCustody. https://t.co/iw968ai8oP #Coinbase #Bitcoin #Partnership pic.twitter.com/kXLVnYH7VC
— Wilshire Phoenix (@WilshirePhoenix) October 31, 2018
Per the release, the investment fund “may” make it easier for financial institutions and investors to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency ecosystem. It won’t, however, “simply hold bitcoin.”
Per the document, investors and financial institutions may find it hard to buy and hold cryptocurrencies as under America’s Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), their pricing models imply specific challenges. The investment firm believes its patent-pending system will provide a solution.
To limit counterparty exposure and “unnecessary additional fees” normally associated with investment funds, the firm will also not use derivatives or “any form of leverage” to help clients gain exposure to bitcoin, the press release states.
Bill Hermann, the founder and CEO of Wilshire Phoenix, stated that Coinbase Custody provides the firm a best in class platform on which to securely store digital assets.” The document adds:
While the fund is not intended to replicate a direct investment in Bitcoin. It will seek to provide investors and financial institutions with the ability to gain exposure to Bitcoin while mitigating some of the risks involved from sudden price movements of Bitcoin.
Sam McIngvale, general manager of Coinbase Custody Trust, added the San Francisco-based company is not only offering Wilshire Phoenix clients’ secure storage for their cryptocurrencies, but also the “ability to perform GAAP-compliant audits whenever the need arises.”
Coinbase, as CryptoGlobe covered, expects to wrap up this year with profits of over $455 million, up from $380 million last year, when most cryptocurrencies surged to new all-time highs. Last year, at one point, it was adding 50,000 users a day, its CEO Brian Armstrong revealed.
Recently, the host of CNBC’s “Crypto Trader” show Ran NeuNer stated Coinbase set planning for an initial public offering (IPO). Asiff Hirji, the firm’s chief operating officer (COO), recently revealed it isn’t planning to raise funds via an IPO “any time soon.”