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Switzerland Gets Its First Cryptocurrency Fund Approved

Finance

cryptoknowmics.com 29 September 2021 12:30, UTC
  
Reading time: ~2 m

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) announced today that it has approved the country’s first cryptocurrency fund amid the rapid adoption of digital assets in Switzerland.

FINMA Approves First Swiss Crypto Fund

Switzerland’s financial watchdog, The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), has approved the Crypto Market Index Fund. The newly approved fund is only restricted to qualified investors investing primarily in cryptocurrencies or digital assets based on the blockchain or distributed ledger technology.

The investment fund, which tracks the SIX Swiss Exchanges’ crypto market index 10, is administered by PvB Pernet von Ballmoos and its custody lies with Seba bank, which contains and measures liquid crypto assets, such as bitcoin and Ether, as well as tokens.

“The objective of the Crypto Market Index 10 is to reliably measure the performance of the largest, liquid crypto assets and tokens and to provide an investable benchmark for this asset class,” the press release read.

FINMA noted that it would require investors to invest only through established counterparties that are based in a member country of the Financial Action Task Force and are subject to corresponding anti-money laundering regulations.

The regulatory body outlined that the authority welcomes innovation in the financial markets:

“In order to facilitate serious innovation, FINMA applies the existing provisions of financial market laws in a consistently technology-neutral way, i.e., in keeping with the “same risks, same rules” principle. In doing so, it makes sure that new technologies are not being used to circumvent the existing rules and that the protective goals of financial market legislation are preserved.”

Switzerland's Growing Crypto Ecosystem

Earlier this month, SIX Digital Exchange received regulatory approval from FINMA to operate a stock exchange and a central securities depository for digital assets in Switzerland.

In February 2021, 21Shares AG, a Switzerland-based cryptocurrency ETP issuer, crossed $1 billion in digital assets under management across its 12 different crypto ETPs. The Swiss digital assets management firm mentioned that cryptocurrency assets are getting popular among the country’s wealth management firms and private banks.

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