Benjamin Lawsky, then-superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services, speaks ... [+] during a Senate hearing in April 2015. Lawsky now works at a company with ties to what appears to be a new leader in institutional cryptocurrency investing.<\/p>\n
New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) today disclosed, in an SEC filing that it closed a $190 million bitcoin fund. The NYDIG Institutional Bitcoin Fund LP, reports that it has 24 unnamed investors and is exempt under Rule 506(b) of the Regulation D safe harbor protections established in 2013.<\/p>\n
Notably, another NYDIG investment called the Bitcoin Strategy Fund was advised by Stone Ridge Asset Management LLC, a $15 billion advisor whose regulatory affairs boss Ben Lawsky, created the BitLicense granted to NYDIG in November 2018, less than a year after he was hired. Stone Ridge co-founder Robert Gutmann is listed as the CEO of NYDIG Execution LLC in a 2018 statement from the New York Department of financial services. <\/p>\n
While details of the new fund are a mystery, it is notable for another reason. Last month, NYDIG announced it had closed another, similarly named fund for $140 million. If the fund, called the NYDIG Bitcoin Yield Enhancement Fund LP is in fact a different financial instrument, NYDIG has quietly become one of the largest institutional investors in bitcoin in the United States, with a total of $330 million in bitcoin between the two funds. A representative of NYDIG declined to comment.<\/p>\n
The matter is further complicated by a name change to the NYDIG Institutional Bitcoin Fund LP, updated today, which was previously called the NYDIG Institutional Digital Asset Fund LP. While weve been unable to confirm the $190 million NYDIG Institutional Bitcoin Fund LP updated today and the $140 million NYDIG Bitcoin Yield Enhancement Fund LP closed last month are in fact different, other evidence supports they are.<\/p>\n
Namely, the Institutional Bitcoin Fund made its first sale on October 26, 2018, according to todays documents, and the Bitcoin Yield Enhancement Fund started selling just a week before it closed. A third fund for bitcoin futures, called the Bitcoin Strategy Fund, is currently listed on Stone Ridges site under the ticker symbol, BTCNX. <\/p>\n
Either way, the presence of a new major player in the institutional investing in bitcoin space is notable. To date, institutional investing in cryptocurrency has been largely dominated by Barry Silberts Grayscale, which has $4.0 billion in assets under management, with another new player, 3iQ announcing a smaller, but still significant $48 million exchange-traded product listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.<\/p>\n
Editors note: This story has been updated to show that NYDIG was granted its BitLicense after hiring Lawsky,<\/p>\n
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\n$190 Million Bitcoin Fund Tied To Former Sheriff Of Wall Street Solidifies Role As Institutional Leader - Forbes<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"