SBI Subsidiary ‘to Launch Japan’s First Bitcoin, Altcoin Fund’ for Individual Investors

 

The Japanese financial giant and crypto heavyweight SBI Holdings has unveiled the nation’s first crypto fund for individual retail investors – although they will need to have deep pockets if they want to take part.

As well as its extensive securities and banking operations, SBI operates or part-owns a number of crypto exchanges, as well as a crypto mining arm. It is also one of Ripple’s closest affiliates. And after another bullish year for the company in crypto, SBI has come good on a promise to unleash a Japan-based crypto fund before the end of 2021, Nikkei reported.

Investors will need to stump up around USD 44,100 to join the fund, which will be made up of seven tokens, including the Ripple-associated XRP and bitcoin (BTC). The firm appears to have withheld the names of the remaining five tokens, but these are thought to be leading altcoins, while ethereum (ETH) could also be among their number.

In a separate article on the same matter, Nikkei also reported that the fund will seek to raise at least over USD 88m, with “no upper limit.” Investors’ stakes will be locked into the fund for a year. Investors will also need to pay a 3.3% sales fee and a 0.66% annual management fee. The product will be distributed by the SBI subsidiary Morningstar.

The fund will seek to buy crypto at favorable prices over a three-month period, and will then seek to liquidize these holdings over the subsequent three months, also at favorable prices in order to “reduce risk.”

The firm hinted that the fund had been designed to appeal to customers who prefer high-risk (and thus high-reward) investments. The media outlet noted that it would likely appeal to “wealthy” customers due to its prohibitively high entry requirements.

The company first announced plans to establish a crypto fund in June 2020, and the Morningstar CEO in September hinted that the company was working on a fund that featured BTC, XRP, and ETH, as well as litecoin (LTC) and bitcoin cash (BCH).

At the time, the Morningstar chief also added that if this first fund proved successful with investors, the firm would consider launching a second offering.
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