Samuel Haig
A survey conducted by major investment bank Goldman Sachs has found that close to half of its family office clients want to add cryptocurrency to their portfolios, signaling the ultra-wealthy are becoming increasingly bullish on digital assets.
The survey, reported by Bloomberg, queried more than 150 family offices worldwide and found that 15% are already exposed to crypto assets.
A further 45% of offices expressed interest in investing in the asset class as a hedge against “higher inflation, prolonged low rates, and other macroeconomic developments following a year of unprecedented global monetary and fiscal stimulus.”
However other respondents cited concerns regarding the volatility and long-term uncertainty surrounding the price of cryptocurrencies as reasoning for their aversion to the asset class. Approximately 67% of the firms surveyed manage more than $1 billion worth of assets, with 22% of respondents boasting assets under management exceeding $5 billion.
Martin Young
An exchange-traded fund focusing on more environmentally friendly crypto mining operations and infrastructure has been launched in the United States.
The new Viridi Cleaner Energy Crypto-Mining and Semiconductor ETF started trading on Tuesday, July 20, on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ‘RIGZ’.
The product is part of growing efforts to attract mainstream investors with a focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.
Viridi Funds, which launched the new investment product, stated that the fund also invests in crypto mining infrastructure businesses and semiconductor companies such as Samsung Electronics, Nvidia Corp., and Advanced Micro Devices, according to Law360.
Viridi CEO Wes Fulford, a former CEO of Bitfarms, said the fund will focus on clean energy screening. He said that the migration of mining out of China to North America was good news, as more than half of crypto mining operations in the region now use renewable energy sources:
“Obviously, with what’s happened in China the power used is dramatically lower than it was at the beginning of June. And it’s also providing the added benefit that more computing power is finding its way to other jurisdictions, sort of decentralizing the network even further, which adds to the security.”
Landon McBride
The Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, may soon issue new rules for the regulation and registration of security-based swaps, including cryptocurrency.
In a speech to the American Bar Association Derivative and Futures Law Committee SEC Chairman Gary Gensler laid out the changes coming to security-based swaps over the next year. The changes are designed to increase transparency and reduce risk to the market. The new requirements that will go into effect in November include new counterparty protections, requirements for capital and margin, internal risk management, supervision and chief compliance officers, trade acknowledgement and confirmation, and recordkeeping and reporting procedures. Starting next February, for instance, swap data repositories will be expected to disclose data about individual transactions to the public.
Gensler clarified:
“Thus, I’ve asked staff to consider ways we can continue to increase transparency and reduce risk through our unused authorities, particularly with regard to security-based SEFs and position reporting.”
Toward the end of his speech Gensler said trade reporting rules will apply to cryptocurrencies if the products are security-based swaps:
“Make no mistake: It doesn’t matter whether it’s a stock token, a stable value token backed by securities, or any other virtual product that provides synthetic exposure to underlying securities. These platforms — whether in the decentralized or centralized finance space — are implicated by the securities laws and must work within our securities regime.”
This Daily Dose was brought to you by Cointelegraph.
