Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings is reportedly launching the country’s first cryptoasset fund, which will invest in XRP and four other popular digital assets.
According to a report by Bloomberg, SBI intends to launch a fund that will invest in Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin. Tomoya Asakura, the President of SBI affiliate Morningstar Japan K.K., told Bloomberg the fund would be aimed at investors familiar with cryptoassets and the volatility involved.
Asakura said the fund would require a investment of at least 1 million yen ($9,100) with the goal of creating a diversified cryptoasset offering:
I want people to hold it together with other assets and experience firsthand how useful it can be for diversifying portfolios.
The report claims SBI hopes to launch the initial fund by the end of November, with plans to follow up with a second cryptoasset fund depending upon performance. Asakura also alluded to SBI creating a separate crypto fund for institutional investors if the interest was high enough.
According to the report, SBI has been working towards the launch of a crypto fund for several years.
Despite mounting interest in digital assets, the financial giant has encountered regulatory hurdles leading to setbacks. Japan’s financial regulatory body, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), has placed strict rules on the sale of digital assets through crypto funds. The country’s Ministry of Finance has also announced its intention to increase staffing related to the oversight of cryptoassets.
On 4 June 2018, wholly-owned subsidiary SBI Virtual Currencies launched a crypto exchange; its ‘VCTRADE’ service initially only offered support for XRP (i.e. trading pair XRP/JPY).
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed by the author, or any people mentioned in this article, are for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading cryptoassets comes with a risk of financial loss.
