2019 was not a good year for crypto hedge funds.
The Block, citing a report from Bloomberg, says that nearly 70 crypto hedge funds have shuttered their doors this year. North American funds were among the hardest hit, with 28 closures, while Europe and the Asia-Pacific round up the top three with 23 and 14 wind downs, respectively.
New fund launches also took a hit, with 2019 seeing less than half the number of new funds launched versus the year before.
The cause? Underwhelming institutional adoption:
The inherent volatile nature of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has kept institutional investors at bay. “The market is definitely retail driven and will remain so for the foreseeable future,” Nic Carter, co-founder of crypto market tracker Coin Metrics, was quoted as saying in the report.
There are currently 804 cryptocurrency funds in total, out of which 355 are hedge funds and 425 are venture capital funds, according to Crypto Fund Research’s website. Arrington XRP, BlockTower Capital, Brian Kelly Capital Management, Digital Currency Group and Fenbushi Capital are the top five cryptocurrency funds, per the researcher.
Photo: Antti T. Nissinen