By Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: It appears that the bear market, falling cryptocurrency prices and an uncertain regulatory environment during the first seven months of 2018 did not stop 96 new crypto hedge funds and venture capital funds from getting launched.
If this trend that translates to an annual pace of 165 is any indication, we are on pace to break the record set in 2017 when 156 crypto funds were launched. If 2017 was "the year of Bitcoin", 2018 is shaping up to be the year of the crypto fund.
According to a new analysis from Crypto Fund Research, more than half of all crypto funds currently in existence have launched in just the last 18 months. There are now 466 crypto funds across the globe.
The report quoted Josh Gnaizda, founder of Crypto Fund Research as saying: "We expected a large number of new crypto funds to launch in 2018 to satisfy growing investor demand. However, the pace of new fund launches is a bit surprising given the dual headwinds of depressed prices and less than favorable regulatory conditions in many regions…"
Josh added: "While volatility in the crypto markets can attract some investors to sophisticated crypto funds, it remains unclear if the industry can support such a large number of funds, with limited track record, if we experience an extended bear market."
While investors await decisions from various regulators on new investment vehicles, such as the bitcoin ETF proposed by Van Eck and SolidX, cr...................... To view our full article Click here
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