Cryptocurrencies and the digital asset ecosystem continue to move towards a mainstream institutional marketplace, with the number of institutional participants either already allocating or planning to allocate to the nascent asset class imminently. 

Gaining the Edge has announced that its new major industry event, Gaining the Edge – Alternative Investment Cap Intro Florida 2022, which will benefit at risk youth will take place on 19-21 January in West Palm Beach, Florida and will continue virtually until 11 February.   

Despite the changing environment and challenges that Covid-19 has presented to operational and investor due diligence processes, sophisticated allocators still demand a “high level” of compliance and institutional infrastructure, according to Jenny Kim DeSmyter (pictured), Managing Director, Sales Strategy, SS&C Eze.

Emerging hedge funds must tread with caution in the face of increasingly complex operational infrastructure as their businesses gather pace and raise assets, speakers at Hedgeweek’s fourth annual HedgeweekLIVE North America Emerging Managers Summit said on Wednesday.

Cryptocurrencies continue to face considerable counterparty and exchange risk, which threatens to turn away larger institutional investors from the market – and industry participants say more should be done to bridge the infrastructure gap between digital and traditional assets.

Few sectors have endured such colossal price swings and asset volatility in recent weeks as cryptocurrencies, but speakers at the inaugural DigitalAssetsLIVE summit on Thursday said evolving market infrastructure, growing product selection, and positive investment performance continue to drive digital assets’ institutionalisation, drawing more capital allocators into this once frontier market. 

Decentralisation of cryptocurrencies is helping curb systemic risk amid the ongoing digital asset price volatility, Anthony Scaramucci, founder and managing partner of SkyBridge Capital, told Hedgeweek on Thursday.

“As an investment case, bitcoin is very early stage and offers big potential, as its long-term correlation is low compared to traditional asset classes.” In the following article Michael Zbinden, CIO, and Dr Hartmut Neff (pictured, above left with Zbinden), Portfolio Manager, with the Crypto Finance Group, offer an introduction to the considerations around investing in crypto assets.

The second annual Gaining the Edge – Global Virtual Cap Intro 2021 to benefit at-risk youth was a record setting event in the alternative investment industry, with over 1,900 registrants. Based on its success, the firm is considering an in person event at a Florida venue in January 2022. Gaining the Edge is proud to donate a quarter million dollars to charity because of the event.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought about a sea change in hedge funds’ cybersecurity concerns, with the remote working environment pushing firms to re-evaluate how they safeguard and secure data and privacy in the cloud amid a rise in phishing attacks.