Asset manager HashKey Capital has introduced a fund tracking the performance of XRP in Asia, with the aim of fostering institutional adoption in the region for the token that is used for transactions in the Ripple network.
The HashKey XRP Tracker Fund became available on Friday to institutional investors in Asia. The fund marks the first of several planned collaborations between HashKey Capital and Ripple Labs.
XRP is the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, with a total value of $121 billion, CoinGecko data shows. The token was recently trading at $2.08, up 318% over the past year.
“XRP stands out as one of the most innovative cryptocurrencies in today’s market, attracting global enterprises who use it to transact, tokenize, and store value, ” HashKey Capital Liquid Funds Partner Vivien Wong said Friday in a statement.
“With the first XRP Tracker Fund available in the region, we simplify access to XRP, catering to the demand for investment opportunities in the very best digital assets,” she added.
As part of its partnership with HashKey Capital, Ripple will act as an anchor investor for the fund, seeding it with an undisclosed amount of funds.
Decrypt reached out to Ripple Labs and HashKey Capital for additional comment, but neither responded in time for publication.
The XRP Tracker Fund is HashKey Capital’s third fund that tracks digital asset prices, after the firm’s BTC ETF and ETH ETF.
Its launch comes as Asian crypto firms aim to spur institutional inflows into digital asset-based investment vehicles following Hong Kong regulators’ approvals of spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs in 2024.
Although spot Ether and especially spot Bitcoin ETFs have experienced robust, if uneven, inflows from Wall Street investors over the past year or so, their Hong Kong equivalents have fielded lukewarm investor interest.
Spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs in the U.S. manage $100 billion in assets, while those in Hong Kong seem to hold just $382 million assets under management, data provider Soso Value’s ETF dashboard shows.
Edited by James Rubin
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