Hedge Fund Investment Firm Brevan Howard to Start Investing in Cryptocurrencies

Brevan Howard, one of Europe’s largest hedge funds with $13.7 billion in assets under management, is reportedly set to start buying cryptocurrencies. The investment firm previously bought a 25% stake in One River Asset Management, which runs a number of cryptocurrency funds.

Major Hedge Fund to Start Investing in Cryptocurrencies

Investment management firm Brevan Howard is reportedly preparing to start buying cryptocurrencies, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. The firm’s cryptocurrency investments will be overseen by Distributed Global’s co-founders Johnny Steindorff and Tucker Waterman. Distributed Global is an asset management company that focuses on digital assets.

Founded in 2002, Brevan Howard describes itself as “one of the world’s leading global macro absolute return managers.” The firm manages assets for institutional investors around the globe including sovereign wealth funds, corporate and public pension plans, foundations, and endowments. The group has offices in London, New York, Geneva, Jersey, Hong Kong, Washington, and Singapore. According to Business Insider, the firm has $13.7 billion in assets under management.

The fund managers at Brevan Howard believe that the cryptocurrency market has matured significantly which led to the firm’s decision to start investing for its clients. The publication quoted the person as saying:

The hedge fund is looking to invest in a range of assets, not just bitcoin. Brevan would initially invest up to 1.5% of its main $5.6 billion fund in cryptocurrencies.

Crypto funds gained 116.8% in the first quarter this year, outperforming bitcoin’s return over the same time period, according to data from Eurekahedge. In comparison, global hedge funds increased 4.8% in the first quarter of the year.

Brevan Howard already has some bitcoin exposure. Last year, the firm bought a 25% stake in One River Asset Management, which runs a number of cryptocurrency funds, investing in bitcoin and ether. The company said in December that its holdings of the two cryptocurrencies would reach $1 billion early this year. Its CEO and co-founder, Eric Peters, expects bitcoin to be worth more than gold, valuing the cryptocurrency at $500K.

Meanwhile, Alan Howard, Brevan Howard’s co-founder, is an investor of Distributed Global. He has also backed a number of companies in the crypto space, including British bitcoin payments app Bottlepay.