Spanish Regulator Issues Guidelines for Fund Managers Planning to Invest in Cryptocurrencies

The Spanish financial regulator is easing the entity’s tough stance towards cryptocurrencies by announcing an unprecedented measure that green lights institutional investors to enter into such business decisions. The National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) unveiled guidelines that approve institutional crypto investment under certain conditions.

Fund Managers Should Specify ‘High Risks’ of Cryptos in Marketing Resources

According to El Economista, the set of guidelines allow Spain-based investment funds and collective investment schemes (sicavs) to trade virtual assets on a daily basis, but just the ones “in which the market price is determined from sales operations carried out by third parties.”

The so-called collective investment institutions (IIC) won’t be permitted to allocate money into derivatives and securities such as crypto-powered exchange-traded commodities or exchange-traded notes.

Furthermore, guidelines specify that fund managers under the regulation should always provide proper and clear warnings across their marketing resources for consumer protection purposes.

Despite the new set of rulings issued by the Spanish financial watchdog, no domestic fund managers had announced investments into the virtual currencies sphere as of press time under the specified categories.

However, firms like Blackrock Spain have started to tread waters and opened to the possibility to expose their funds into digital assets. Still, high volatility made Spanish companies reluctant to make a full exposure, said El Economista.

Crypto Reputation Among the Spanish Government and Regulators

The warnings issued by the CNMV are not surprising, considering the background in terms of stricter rhetoric on cryptocurrencies coming from both the government and the watchdog.

As Bitcoin.com News reported in February, Ana de la Cueva, the Spanish Secretary of State for the Economy, said that cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (BTC) carry “a risk of default, given that the user does not have the protection offered by traditional payment systems against a default by the counterparty.”

Recently, Rodrigo Buenaventura, CNMV president, was vocal on his stance against bitcoin-related street ads, considering them “risky.”