Sber, Russia’s largest bank, has launched a blockchain exchange-traded fund (ETF) which is apparently the country’s first ETF. The fund will track the performance of major crypto firms like Coinbase and Galaxy Digital.
The new ETF is tied to several blockchain and crypto industry enterprises, including hardware and software providers for mining and issuing cryptocurrencies, according to Sber Asset Management, which revealed the news on Thursday.
The fund, dubbed “Sber — Blockchain Economy,” will trade under the ticker SBBE and will track Sber’s investment subsidiary SberCIB’s eponymous index.
Some of the world’s biggest crypto companies will be included in SBBE’s portfolio, including Coinbase, the largest exchange in the United States; Mike Novogratz’s investment firm, Galaxy Digital; and blockchain software developer Digindex.
While SBBE’s currency is the US dollar, investors will be able to acquire shares on the SberInvestor app or through “any other Russian broker” using Russian rubles. According to the release, the share price starts at 10 rubles ($0.013).
About Sber’s new ETF
Sber’s blockchain ETF will be the “first ETF in Russia to allow investors to profit from the blockchain market without the obstacles associated with direct development, buying, holding, and selling digital currencies,” according to the statement.
“Because direct investments in crypto assets are connected with high dangers, dealing with them on your own is tough.”
As a result, we offer to invest in enterprises focusing on the development of blockchain technologies rather than crypto,” Sber Asset Management CEO Evgeny Zaitsev stated. He also stated that “any individual” will be allowed to invest in the new ETF.
The announcement comes just a few weeks after Sber Asset Management chief Vasily Illarionov revealed the company’s ambitions for a blockchain ETF in mid-December. According to him, the fund is exempt from the Bank of Russia’s limitations and can be sold to individual investors.
The Russian central bank has prohibited mutual funds from purchasing cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and offering crypto exposure to qualified or unqualified investors, as previously reported.