Starting 2022 with a bang, prominent investment manager VanEck announced the launch of its first cryptocurrency fund in the evening hours of 31st January 2022. As per the press release, the fund is listed as an exchange-traded note, or ETN, on the Deutsche Borse Xetra and SIX Swiss exchanges that would provide exposure to the spot prices of Bitcoin [BTC], Ethereum [ETH], Polkadot [DOT], Solana [SOL], Tron [TRX], Avalanche [AVAX] and Polygon [MATIC].
Just a week ago, the firm expanded its footprint in the European market as it launched a new Exchange Traded Note [ETN] that facilitates users to invest in a selected basket of the largest cryptocurrencies with the greatest liquidity. As of now, The ETN tracks six of the largest crypto assets, such as bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.
Speaking on the latest development, Gijs Koning, Head of Portfolio Management & Operations at VanEck Europe stated,
“We were first to market in Europe with many of these exposures because we’re believers in the transformative nature of the underlying technologies, and because providing exposure to transformative investments is at the core of our firm’s DNA. In early 2017, we determined that digital assets could provide a store of value alternative to currencies and gold, as well as a host of technology solutions that could bring down costs in the payments and investing industries.”
Unlike its growth trajectory in Europe, the same cannot be said in its home country where the New York-based investment firm had to face regulatory hurdles.
VanEck’s tryst with US regulators
Last November, the U.S top financial watchdog- Securities, and Exchange Commission rejected VanEck’s application for a Bitcoin spot ETF as reported by TronWeekly. The regulatory agency in its response cited that the underlying exchange responsible for listing the ETF, Cboe BZX, did not have a proper “surveillance-sharing agreement with markets trading the underlying assets [of Bitcoin].”
At this point in the United States, VanEck’s financial offerings are currently limited to providing a range of digital asset private funds for high-net-worth individuals and institutions, as well as several exchange-traded funds.