Surging institutional demand for cryptocurrencies led to the growth in CoinShares AUM.

CoinShares’ bouquet of XBT Provider Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) has grossed AUM of above $1 billion. CoinShare is Europe’s largest digital asset manager and allows trading in a range of ETPs to investors. (Decrypt)

AUM crosses $1 billion

The ETPs are a means to buy exposure to crypto-assets without having to hold them physically in one’s custody.

CoinShares offers ETPs for bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, and XRP denominated in both EUR and SEK currencies.

The crypto ETPs from CoinShares have benefited from rising investor interest following adoption by institutions, investment banks, and financial services firms.

Other factors that have attracted investors to cryptocurrencies are a grim economic scenario accompanied by massive stimulus measures across the globe following the virus outbreak.

“If we compare with gold (which has over $200bn of AUM globally), we believe bitcoin is better positioned to react aggressively to a current easing in fiscal and monetary policy,” observed CoinShares CEO Jean-Marie Mognetti.

Digital assets as alternative stores of value

CoinShares Chief Revenue Officer, Frank Spiteri, who heads up the XBT Provider platform, said that there was increasing interest from institutional investors in digital assets as “alternative stores of value.” This followed the dramatic changes in the investment environment.

Interest in digital assets has also spiked after legendary investor Warren Buffet made a surprise investment in Q2 in shares of Barrick Gold (NASDAQ: GOLD) worth over $560 million. Buffet is well known for his highly negative views on gold as an investment.

At least one analyst predicted a price of $50,000 for bitcoin following the news of Buffet’s investment in a gold mining company. Both BTC and gold appear to share much the same tailwinds from current economic conditions.

In another huge plug for bitcoin, Nasdaq-listed Microstrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) recently plowed $250 million into bitcoin as a part of its capital allocation strategy.

“This investment reflects our belief that Bitcoin, as the world’s most widely-adopted cryptocurrency, is a dependable store of value and an attractive investment asset with more long-term appreciation potential than holding cash,” said Michael J. Saylor, CEO, Microstrategy, at the time.

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Image Credit: XBTPROVIDER by CoinShares