Napoleon AM said that its Bitcoin fund shall be currently available to institutional traders in France. The fund is tied to CME’s cash-settled Bitcoin futures.
Napoleon AM, a France-based asset management company, has launched a new cryptocurrency fund dubbed the “Napoleon Bitcoin Fund” tied to the cash-settled Bitcoin futures offered by the Chicago Mercantile Group (CME).
As per the report by French publication Les Echos, this is the country’s first fully-regulated cryptocurrency fund. Last week since December 6, the crypto fund is available for trading for France-based professional investors. Note that the fund is local to France only and cannot be traded cross-border.
Specifically targeted for institutional investors, the Napoleon Bitcoin Fund has a minimum ticket size of 100,000 euros. Napoleon AM also explained the reason behind launching this new said. The asset management company believes that Bitcoin is ideal for diversification as well as for optimizing risk-return ratios.
Furthermore, the advantage of selecting CME futures is that the fund gets exposure to Bitcoin without holing real BTC tokens. The company further added:
“The fund aims to replicate the performance of Bitcoin via Futures listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in cash settlement, thus avoiding the problem of storing and valuing Bitcoin”.
The fund will operate under the regulatory observation of France’s financial regulator, AMF. In a press statement, Stéphane Ifrah, President of Napoleon AM, said:
The Fund is the “culmination of our discussions with the regulator and our partners to offer a real alternative to professional investors. We are proud to contribute to the institutionalization and democratization of digital assets through a unique regulated fund under French law.”
France’s local investment firm Financière d’Uzès will act as the fund custodian while the “Big Four” accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) will serve as the auditor.
Going ahead, Napoleon is open to tapping into new Bitcoin futures products like the one offered by Bakkt. “We have opened the door for alternative use of futures in order to optimize replication and maintain access to the best sources in the future,” said Napoleon AM’s Communications Director Sergio Gonzalez.
Asset management companies across the globe are warming up to the idea of launch new cryptocurrency funds as the industry continues to mature further. But Napoleon AM is not the first French company to invest in cryptocurrency financial products. Back in 2017, Tobam also launched a similar fund tied to CME’s cash-settled futures.
This is the second announcement this week from an asset management company launching the Bitcoin fund. Earlier this week, U.S.-based asset management firm Stone Ridge launched a Bitcoin fund which will invest $15 billion of client assets in cash-settled futures.
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