French asset management firm Tobam is planning to launch Europe’s first Bitcoin (TIKER: BTC.EXANTE) mutual fund, the Financial Times reported.
The company has created the fund as an unregulated alternative investment in order to provide a vehicle for allowing more regulated investors at the institutional level to gain Bitcoin exposure without the regulatory concerns.
Tobam hopes the mutual fund wrapper, which pools gains and losses from investment in Bitcoin, should help add a level of sophistication that could attract traditional investors.
Christophe Roehri, head of business development at Tobam, said in a statement: “Direct investment in Bitcoin can be operationally challenging, from dealing with the choice of the platform, to maintaining the proper security measures in terms of custody and to managing the changes made to the protocol (hard forks).” “Our goal is to take control of these operational challenges in order to facilitate access for qualified investors willing to gain exposure to Bitcoin. All of that under the format of a fund.”
Tobam’s fund will be open to institutional investors and qualified investors on a private placement basis. Tobam has offices in Paris, Dublin, New York, and Hong Kong.
Yves Choueifaty, the founder of Tobam said he would be disappointed if the bitcoin fund had not grown to a size of more than $400m in the next two to three years.