[ I N - D E P T H
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B I T C O I N ]
T
he never ending rise of
bitcoin has been both
meteoric and frightening.
The cryptocurrency price hit the
fabled $10,000 mark in November,
from just $1033 at the start of the
year, while market capitalisation
has surged tenfold to $160 billion
leaving those who had the nerve to
remain invested with some of the
highest returns of any asset in the
world.
The success, as can be expected,
has led to burgeoning investor
interest. Cryptocurrency-focused
hedge funds have been springing
up apace in the last 12 months.
According to Autonomous NEXT,
a financial technology research
company, there were 104 cryp-
to-hedge funds launched this year,
taking the total to 130 with about
$2.5 billion in assets. Many of these
are banking on continued market
24
TheTrade
Winter 2017
“Fear of missing out is real. All can see that
holding digital global money will be the norm
inside ten years.”
LEE ROBINSON, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, ALTANA WEALTH
growth and expansion. But despite
all of the hype—or maybe because
of it—bitcoin and its ilk are looked
at suspiciously by the mainstream
institutional investor community.
Volatility, lack of track record and
the fact that cyptocurrencies are
seen to be used more for nefarious
purposes than not, have cooled the
appeal of the asset class for institu-
tional investors.
So what chances of change?
Advocators of bitcoin, in fact,
believe that mainstream adoption
could be as little as a year away
and are raising funds to prepare.
In September, Mike Novogratz,
former macro hedge fund manager
at $36 billion Fortress Investment
Group, announced he was launch-
ing a fund—the Galaxy Digital
Assets Fund—with the aim is of
raising over $500 million to invest