Victory Capital Holdings announced that its wholly owned investment adviser, Victory Capital Management Inc., has established exclusive agreements with both Nasdaq and crypto-focused asset manager Hashdex Ltd. (“Hashdex”) in advance of plans to enter the cryptocurrency market. Victory Capital will be the exclusive sponsor of private placement funds and other vehicles for U.S. investors, based on the Nasdaq Crypto Index (NCI), a multi-coin crypto index co-developed by Nasdaq and Hashdex.
Victory Capital plans to launch a private fund for accredited investors that will track the NCI. Additionally, Victory Capital will be offering private funds that track the Nasdaq Bitcoin Reference Price Index as well as the Nasdaq Ethereum Price Index. Hashdex will provide its trading and asset management expertise to each of these products.
The NCI was developed to address rapidly growing institutional investor interest in digital assets. The rules-based index is designed to be dynamic in nature, broadly representative of the investable landscape of the cryptocurrency market, and readily trackable by investors. It employs strict eligibility criteria and is rebalanced quarterly to maintain a current representation of this market.
Hashdex was created with the mission of building a simplified bridge between traditional financial markets and the crypto market. Founded in early 2018, Hashdex pioneered the world’s first crypto index funds. The company manages index, passive and systematic crypto funds currently available to non-U.S. investors.
“We continually strive to provide our clients with the forward-thinking choices they want and believe cryptocurrency is a viable asset class that can be part of a well-diversified portfolio,” said Mannik Dhillon, CFA, CAIA, President, VictoryShares and Solutions. “By investing in a portfolio designed to track the NCI, investors can seek returns that align with the cryptocurrency market in a diversified manner, gaining exposure to multiple digital assets as this market continues to evolve and mature. We are actively considering other vehicles and wrappers to bring these capabilities to a broader set of investors.”
“We have seen a developing maturity in the cryptocurrency ecosystem,” said Sean Wasserman, Vice President, Global Head of Index and Advisor Solutions, Nasdaq. “Our work with industry partners such as Victory Capital and Hashdex furthers the innovation in the digital asset space.”
“We set out to solve a problem we were having ourselves. We wanted an institutional-grade index strategy that would allow us to own beta in the crypto asset class,” commented Marcelo Sampaio, CEO of Hashdex. “We created a dynamic index strategy that enables non-U.S. investors to make allocations to the asset class, rather than trying to pick winners. We are thrilled to partner with Victory Capital and Nasdaq to bring our investment capabilities to the U.S. market in the future.”