By
Bhushan Akolkar
May 10th, 2024
The fund is currently available for wholesale investors who have obtained an accountant’s certification that they have net assets of at least AUD$2.5 million or a gross income of AUD$250,000 for each of the last two years.
Coinjar, the largest crypto exchange of Australia, launched CoinJar Digital Currency Fund, Australia’s first index-style cryptocurrency fund for wholesale investors, on August 1.
Today we launched the CoinJar Digital Currency Fund, an index-style cryptocurrency fund for wholesale investors to access digital currency markets. https://t.co/VMDpn5Q2bG
— CoinJar (@GetCoinJar) August 1, 2018
As Coinjar blog post reads, the CoinJar Digital Currency Fund takes on the management and security of the assets on behalf of the investor. The underlying cryptocurrency assets are secured safely in multi-signature digital wallets which provide an additional layer of security for investors. According to the exchange, the Fund has Bitcoin Class, which provides exposure to Bitcoin (BTC) only; and Mixed Class for tracking the performance of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), and Litecoin (LTC) — digital currencies weighted by fixed supply. Both the classes offer a convenient way to invest with Australian Dollars, which may provide diversification to traditional asset classes.
The statement reads:
“The CoinJar Digital Currency Fund has no establishment costs, contribution fees or performance fees. Management fees are 1.3% per annum for Bitcoin Class and 1.8% per annum for Mixed Class plus normal operating costs.”
The fund is currently available for wholesale investors. For those investing for the first time, the minimum requirement to invest in the fund would be that of $50,000 AUD. Existing investors could then make investments in the increments of $10,000.
The exchainge said:
“The CoinJar Digital Currency Fund provides a low-cost, index-style and AUD-denominated vehicle to invest in digital currencies. The Fund offers medium to long-term exposure in digital currencies without the need for investors to self-manage custody and security.”
The aim of the CoinJar Digital Currency Fund is “to track the returns of the digital currency market over the medium to long term by investing in selected digital currency assets.” Commenting on the launch, Jordan Michaelides, head of institutional at CoinJar, said:
“Investing in cryptocurrency carries certain risks and can be an unnecessarily complex process. Traditionally, an individual investor in cryptocurrency has also been exposed to potential loss through cybercrime. We are launching the CoinJar Digital Currency Fund to handle the custody risks, simplify the investment process and provide industry best practice in security for wholesale investors.”
Coinjar is a global personal finance company, where people can easily buy and spend bitcoin and other currencies. Being one of the largest Australian crypto exchanges with over 70,000 customers, Coinjar has processed over $100m worth of transactions. CoinJar provides simple tools to manage digital currencies, such as multi-factor authentication to ensure their customers’ bitcoins are safe, even if their password is compromised. CoinJar is backed by leading investors AngelCube and Blackbird Ventures. In 2016, the exchange was listed by the Sydney Morning Herald as one of the 13 Australian start-ups to watch.
However, Coinjar is not the only outstanding Australian crypto exchange. There are a host of competing cryptocurrency exchanges in the country that is warming up to the prospects of digital currencies. One of them is Independent Reserve, the Sydney-based cryptocurrency exchange, which has recently expanded the list of its cryptocurrency offerings with Ripple’s XRP. The platform now allows trading in bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin, and bitcoin cash. Users can purchase the new coin in US dollars, Australian dollars, and New Zealand dollars. Besides fiat-to-crypto trading, the exchange supports trading between XRP and already available digital currencies.
Australian government has also come up with new crypto regulation. Under the new legislation, Australian exchanges have to meet anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) rules, verify new customers, and report suspicious activity, including the transfers of physical currency above $10,000 or more.