Private Banking Firm With $14B Assets Starts First Crypto Fund of Spain

A&G, a Spain-based banking entity focused on private banking, launched the first crypto fund under Spanish jurisprudence.

The firm, with €12.4 billion ($14 billion) in assets under management as of the end of 2022, launched a hedge fund that will be accessible to professional investors, A&G said in a statement released on Monday.

The fund managed by A&G will have CACEIS, the asset servicing banking group of Crédit Agricole and Santander, as depositary, while it will be audited by PwC.

"We consider it an optimal solution for any European professional investor who wants to approach the world of cryptocurrencies, without forgetting that it is a very high risk fund," Diego Fernandez Elices, chief investment officer at A&G, said in a statement.

In 2022, the Bank of Spain started issuing licenses for providers of services for the exchange of virtual currency for fiat currency and the custody of digital wallets, to which companies such as Bit2Me, Bitstamp, BVNK, Crypto.com and Ripio acceded.

Some time later, in December 2022, the central bank of Spain said it was planning to start a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) project, and asked financial institutions and tech providers to submit proposals for the initiative.