Coinbase has launched a new cryptocurrency index fund in hopes to specifically target large investors. With their new cryptocurrency index fund, it will enable access to all five cryptocurrencies on Coinbase’s platform. The new prime brokerage service for hedge funds will allow hedge funds to borrow from Coinbase after putting down collateral. After collateral, they will be able to trade on a number of cryptocurrency exchanges without putting down a balance.
Coinbase Asset Management launched the Index Fund on Wednesday and has claimed since then they have received an overwhelming amount of interest from investors since they first announced the new cryptocurrency Index Fund back in March of 2018. Many people were positive, and the community believed that with this fund, it would draw in large amounts of institutional and retail investment. Coinbase’s previous trading platform GDAX has since changed into ‘Coinbase Pro’. While they were changing and rebranding GDAX into Coinbase Pro was when they also started the new Index Fund.
All of Coinbase’s cryptocurrencies will be accessible for investors including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash as well as their most recent addition, Ethereum classic. These cryptocurrencies will be weighted by market capitalization according to Reuben Bramanathan.
The cryptocurrency Index Fund will initially be available with a minimum investment of $250,000 and a ceiling of $20 million strictly for accredited investors which has been reported previously. An exchange operator has confirmed that the Index Fund will be rebalanced to help support and include Ethereum classic.
The fund is now up and running, although it isn’t available to all users within the 30+ countries where Coinbase has a presence in. At this point in time, Coinbase Index Fund is only available to United States residents who are accredited investors.
“The firm has onboarded a $20 billion hedge fund through its prime business, the people said, declining to specify which fund. The team is working on getting other large hedge funds onto its trading platform,” according to Business Insider.
Although there haven’t been any specific details released of the company’s plans, the executive has confirmed that Coinbase is “working on launching more funds which are accessible to all investors” other than the accredited investors. They are also working toward releasing “a broader range of digital assets.” It is possible for Coinbase to provide execution services where they will be able to help assist hedge funds in locating the best platform for a trade in the future but not much of this has been mentioned yet.
