Switzerland's first cryptocurrency fund approved

Cryptocurrency adoption in Switzerland continues to gain momentum as Swiss financial authorities grant more regulatory approval for cryptocurrency investment vehicles.

On September 29, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) officially announced that it had approved the Crypto Market Index Fund (Crypto Market Index Fund) as “the first cryptocurrency fund established under Swiss law.”

Launched by Swiss asset manager Crypto Finance, the fund is managed by investment manager PvB Pernet von Ballmoos AG and is held by regulated custodian SEBA Bank AG.

FINMA noted that the newly approved funds are limited to accredited investors and invest primarily in cryptocurrencies or digital assets “based on blockchain or distributed ledger technology.”

Crypto market index funds may only invest in leading cryptocurrencies with “sufficiently traded volumes,” the regulator said. According to Crypto Finance, the fund will track the performance of the Crypto Market Index 10, a product managed by the Swiss stock exchange SIX Swiss Exchange.

Crypto Finance stated: “The goal of the Crypto Market Index 10 is to reliably measure the performance of the largest, highly liquid crypto assets and tokens and to provide an investable benchmark for this asset class.”

FINMA added that it will require investors to invest only with counterparties located in FATF member countries and subject to appropriate anti-money laundering regulations.

Concurrent with the approval of the fund, FINMA also approved SEBA Bank AG as an institutional-grade custody service, granting the company a CISA license. Previously, FINMA officially allowed SIX Swiss Exchange to launch a distributed ledger technology-based digital asset market and central securities depository in early September.

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