Key Takeaways:
- Hauck & Aufhäuser Innovative Capital (HAIC) Germany has received approval from the country’s regulatory watchdog to become a regulated crypto management company (KVG).
- The approval allows HAIC to “set up and manage investment funds as special assets that invest in native crypto assets or add them to a classic portfolio allocation.”
Hauck & Aufhäuser Innovative Capital (HAIC) is one of Germany’s oldest bank. The bank has received approval from the country’s regulatory watchdog to become a regulated crypto management company (KVG). According to a press release on Monday, Hauck & Aufhäuser Innovative Capital (HAIC) received the KVG license from BaFin earlier in February 2022. The approval allows HAIC to “set up and manage investment funds as special assets that invest in native crypto assets or add them to a classic portfolio allocation.”
The HAIC Digital Asset Fund I focuses on three crypto-assets, i.e. Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Stellar (XLM) (XLM). HAIC Digital Asset Fund I is also open to institutional and semi-institutional investors. It is open with a €200,000 ($226,230) minimum entry point.
The most recent development demonstrates how Germany’s regulations encourage cryptocurrency adoption. Cryptocurrencies were classified as financial instruments by BaFin in March 2020. Later in July 2021, German legislators passed the Fund Allocation Act, which allowed institutional funds to invest 20% of their portfolio in cryptocurrency.
In this regard, Dr Holger Sepp, Member of the Management Board at Hauck Aufhäuser Lamp, said, “With our KVG for digital assets, we are planning the launch and management of our digital asset funds, but as a master KVG we also want to be available to fund initiators and asset managers as a service partner for their fund products.“
He further said that “In the future, we will be able to offer the entire range of services for digital asset investment products from a single source, starting with portfolio management, KVG services and fund administration through to custody and the custodian.”
