Hauck & Aufhäuser Innovative Capital (HAIC), a digital investment subsidiary of one of the oldest German banks, Hauck & Aufhäuser, has received approval from the regulatory watchdog of the country to become a KGV, aka a regulated crypto management company. The approval from BaFin came earlier this month.
According to this approval, HAIC will be allowed to “set up and manage investment funds as special assets that invest in native crypto assets or add them to a classic portfolio allocation.”
The Hauck & Aufhäuser subsidiary isn’t the first time at the crypto rodeo – in December 2020, it began a collaboration with Kapilendo, a fintech company based in Berlin, meant to launch a crypto fund in January of 2021.
The fund bears the name HAIC Digital Asset Fund I and it focuses on three crypto assets: Bitcoin, Ether, and Stellar. It is open to both institutional and semi-institutional investors. The minimum entry point for it is set at $226,230 (€200,000).
This indicates that Germany is taking steps towards crypto adoption. Almost two years ago, BaFin classified cryptos as financial instruments. In July 2021, German legislators passed the Fund Allocation Act which lets institutional funds allocate 20% of their portfolio in crypto.
Regarding this new license, a member of the management board at Hauck Aufhäuser Lamp, Dr. Holger Sepp, declared:
“With our KVG for digital assets, we are planning the launch and management of our own digital asset funds, but as a master KVG we also want to be available to fund initiators and asset managers as a service partner for their fund products.”
He further commented:
“In the future, we will be able to offer the entire range of services for digital asset investment products from a single source, starting with portfolio management, KVG services, and fund administration through to custody and the custodian.”