In brief
- Cathie Wood, CEO of Ark Invest, has joined the board of Amun Holdings.
- Wood has also bought millions of dollars worth of Coinbase shares in recent weeks.
Cathie Wood, CEO of investment management firm Ark Invest, has joined the board of crypto company Amun Holdings, per a report published by Bloomberg yesterday.
Wood joined the Amun board after personally investing in 21Shares AG operators, which specializes in exchange-traded products (ETPs).
“21Shares is forging a new path for crypto ETPs by leading with research and a keen understanding of this developing asset class,” Wood said, adding, “I am thrilled to support its efforts.”
What is Amun Holdings?
Amun Holdings is a crypto firm and ETP provider based in Zurich, Switzerland.
The firm currently has approximately $2 billion in assets under management; a sharp increase from its March 2020 figure of $27 million, according to CEO Hany Rashwan.
The firm is also profitable, with annual revenue of up to $50 million being generated from a mix of institutional and retail investors.
ARK Invest's Cathie Wood: Bonds Are Done, Crypto Could Be the Solution
Bitcoin represents a new asset class and may serve as a reserve currency in the future, said the founder and CEO of ARK Invest Cathie Wood on Thursday, during an online conference hosted by Bloomberg. According to Wood, the biggest surprise to ARK Invest in the last year was that, while the firm expected institutional investors to start moving into Bitcoin—despite all the regulatory hurdles—it didn’t expect the diversification on their balance sheet and the diversification of their cash assets....
“We built the company to make crypto as accessible as stocks and have seen tremendous demand for our products,” Rashwan said.
21Shares Short Bitcoin ETP is one of Amun’s offerings. It allows investors to bet against Bitcoin. In turn, the 21Sahres Crypto Basket Index tracks the top five cryptocurrencies by market value.
ETC Group CEO: There Is Increasing Demand For An Ethereum ETP
Earlier this week, financial services company ETC Group launched an Ethereum exchange-traded product (ETP). ETC Group CEO Bradley Duke told Decrypt he believes the demand for Ethereum is growing, and his goal is to provide investors with options to enter the Ethereum market. “There’s increasing demand for Ethereum, and I have faith in the team behind Ethereum,” Duke said, adding that the smart contract platform represents a “whole, programmable banking system and allows for all sorts of innovati...
Amun and 21Shares products are listed on exchanges in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany. Amun plans to list its first non-European product in the coming months. According to Bloomberg's report, this expansion might see as many as 30 products established in eight countries.
This isn’t Wood’s first involvement with the crypto industry. According to The Block, Woods has bought a total of $356 million worth of Coinbase shares, first purchasing $246 million on April 15, and then buying another tranche of shares worth $110 million the following day.
