SkyBridge Capital launches Bitcoin Fund with $25M Investment to Do This

SkyBridge Capital’s founder, Anthony Scaramucci, is launching a Bitcoin fund in order to “democratize” investing in the cryptocurrency for the “mass affluent” with a lower fee product.

The founder of the NY-based $9.2 billion global investment firm has said that SkyBridge put in $25 million of its capital and is opening the fund to investors on Jan. 4th with a minimum subscription size of $50,000.

Scaramucci noted that they’re already putting together a “nice book” with the preliminary orders.

Founded in 2005, SkyBridge is a global alternative investments firm specializing in multi-strategy commingled fund of hedge funds products, custom separate account portfolios and hedge fund advisory solutions to address the needs of a wide range of market participants ranging from individual accredited investors to large institutions.

SkyBridge also manages a Real Estate Investment Trust, the SkyBridge Opportunity Zone REIT (SOZ REIT).

“One of the things we tried to do is democratize the hedge fund industry and Bitcoin is still somewhat difficult to buy,” Scaramucci stated.

According to Scaramucci, Bitcoin (BTC-USD) falls into the “store of value” category by drawing a comparison to gold, which has a $10 trillion market capitalization versus Bitcoin’s $440 billion market cap.

“So, we think there’s a very large move for Bitcoin over the next five to ten years. We think it’s a product that people will have in their portfolios, and we wanted to get out there with something that could be available to RIAs, the mass affluent, and people who have an interest in owning some digital assets,” he added.

The SkyBridge Bitcoin Fund will charge 75 basis-points, versus Grayscale Bitcoin Trust’s 2% annual fee.

“Grayscale fund has a tendency to trade at a 20 to 30% premium, so we wanted this to trade at the net asset value of Bitcoin,” Scaramucci said.

The fund’s back office and storage will be provided by Fidelity Digital Assets, while EY will do the auditing.

Bitcoin has exploded in price in the last year to over $23,000 and has soared 228% YTD.