SkyBridge Capital, the alternative investment firm, has filed for a crypto-focused exchange-traded fund (ETF) and revealed plans for an Algorand fund at the SALT conference in New York.
Anthony Scaramucci, the founder of SkyBridge Capital and former Director of White House Communications, said that the firm had raised more than $100 million toward the newly announced Algorand fund. He added that the firm currently holds around $700 million worth of crypto assets.
It has been reported that Scaramucci asserted that “crypto is here to stay,” adding that regulators must act “very quickly” if they intend to stem the snowballing adoption of the technology.
He added:
“This is a lot like Uber — the regulators wanted to knock Uber out of business, but the people wanted Uber and the people won. Before long, there will be 200 million [crypto] users in the United States.”
However, his comments come as many onlookers fear a regulatory crackdown spearheaded by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Despite expressing disagreement with SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s recent characterization of the crypto sector as being “rife with fraud and abuse,” Scaramucci highlighted his appreciation for the position Gensler is in.
He added:
“He’s got a lot of people in Congress that don’t fully understand it. There’s a lot of negativity. I would implore people like Senator Elizabeth Warren to come to a conference like this and sit with people in the industry so she can understand what the protocols actually are [...] I think we’ve got to get everybody up the curve in terms of education.”
The report said that other finance magnates speaking at the event do not share Scaramucci’s optimism regarding the ability of crypto adoption to outrun the grasp of heavy-handed regulations.
Likewise, Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s third-largest hedge fund, predicted the increasing popularity of digital assets will draw the ire of lawmakers.
Dalio said:
“At the end of the day if it’s really successful, [...] they will try to kill it. And I think they will kill it because they have ways of killing it.”
He slammed cash as “trash,” adding that all monetary assets offering an alternative to cash are “worth considering,” including Bitcoin (BTC).
He further said:
“I think it’s worth considering all the alternatives to cash and all the alternatives to the other financial assets. Bitcoin is a possibility. I have a certain amount of money in Bitcoin.”
Thus, SkyBridge filed with the SEC for a crypto-focused ETF. If approved, the First Trust SkyBridge Crypto Industry and Digital Economy ETF would invest at least 80% of its net assets into leading companies representing the crypto industry ecosystem, would not seek direct exposure to cryptocurrency.
Source: Cointelegraph
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