Copper, a London based digital asset infrastructure provider, has launched Copper Catalyst, a next-generation framework designed to bridge the gap between traditional financial markets and the emerging crypto investment space.Copper Catalyst enables institutional and sophisticated investors to take a position in cryptoassets without the risk usually associated with the storage and trading of crypto. With Copper Catalyst, investors can buy exposure to cryptoassets in a similar way to how they would buy a normal equity or derivative.
To date, cryptoassets have not been easily bankable, and the options available for crypto funds looking to issue securitised products have been prohibitively expensive and caused compliance issues. This has served to stifle the growth of this emerging market, locking out many funds from expanding in line with investor appetite.
The Catalyst platform enables the new generation of crypto funds to issue a range of actively managed certificates (AMCs). These AMCs will be licensed with an international securities identification number (ISIN), a universally accepted identifier, and will be fully bankable and fully clearable in across a range of European exchanges.
Copper will manage the issuance vehicle and provide custody for cryptoassets. The platform will cut the costs of issuing securities by more than half for crypto funds, and will reduce the time it takes to launch an issuance vehicle from months to days compared to alternative issuance vehicles, such as a Cayman fund structure or AMCs sourced independently.
Dmitry Tokarev, Chief Executive Officer, Copper Technologies, says: “The crypto fund industry has shown enormously promising growth over the last decade, with impressive strategies and excellent return for investors. But it is no secret that there has been a clear barrier to their graduation into the investment mainstream: the lack of feasible securitisation options. With sky-high costs and extensive compliance issues associated with most available structures, there is a gulf between traditional financial markets and this next generation of funds: a gulf that Copper Catalyst will bridge.
“More and more, we are seeing traditional investors looking for exposure in cryptoassets – not least as a hedge against the economic damage and impending inflation as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. There are scores of investors whose only barrier to engaging in crypto is the perceived risk associated with managing your own currency. Catalyst entirely mitigates that risk, and will improve access to the asset class for all sophisticated investors – from high-net-worth individuals through to Wall Street.”
