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- Japan may see its first crypto fund by the end of the year, Bloomberg first reported.
- The fund, from SBI Holdings, plans to invest in bitcoin, ether, XRP, bitcoin cash, litecoin, among others.
- Investors may need to put in a minimum of around $9,100 (1 million yen) to roughly $27,200 (3 million yen).
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Japan may have its first cryptocurrency fund by the end of the year, Bloomberg first reported this week.
Japanese conglomerate SBI Holdings is looking to launch the fund by November aimed at investors who already have an understanding of the risks of cryptocurrency investing, such as wild price swings, Tomoya Asakura told Bloomberg. Asakura oversees asset management for the country’s biggest online brokerage.
The fund plans to invest in bitcoin, ether, XRP, bitcoin cash, litecoin, among other assets. Investors may need to put in a minimum of around $9,100 (1 million yen) to roughly $27,200 (3 million yen).
“Once people feel it firsthand … they will understand that we aren’t recommending cryptocurrencies as a tool of speculation,” Asakura told Bloomberg.
Due to Japan’s strict regulations, it has taken SBI four years to get the fund running. All the while, demand for digital assets has been steadily growing.
The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US, Coinbase Global, has responded to the surge in interest by starting a local trading platform in partnership with Japanese banking giant MUFG.