Japan’s Fisco Launching Cryptocurrency Fund – Derivatives Products to Follow

Following the issuance of its bitcoin bond, Japanese investment research group Fisco Corporation is now launching a cryptocurrency fund. The company is also planning to offer derivative products as well as several other crypto-related services.
Tokyo-based investment research group Fisco Corporation has announced the launch of a cryptocurrency fund. “It is being described as the first fund of its kind in Japan,” according to Nikkei.

The fund will invest more than 300 million yen (~USD$2.67 million) in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as early as this month, the publication described. In addition, it will seek to profit from price differentials among domestic and foreign cryptocurrency exchanges. The news outlet added:

Fisco will invest its own money and raise capital from two other listed fintech companies. It will aim for investment returns of about 20% per year.

Founded in 1995, the Jasdaq-listed company operates a crypto exchange called Fisco Cryptocurrency Exchange which became one of the first 11 exchanges to be granted a license by the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) in September of last year. The platform currently supports yen trading of bitcoin (BTC), monacoin (MONA), and bitcoin cash (BCH).

From Bitcoin Bond to Crypto Fund and More
Japan's Fisco Launching Cryptocurrency Fund - Derivatives Products to FollowIn August of last year, Fisco Cryptocurrency Exchange issued Japan’s first bitcoin-denominated, unsecured corporate bond, as news.Bitcoin.com previously reported. “The bond pays a 3 percent coupon and gives the holder 200 bitcoins back when it matures on August 10, 2022,” the company detailed at the time.

According to Fisco’s 2017 year-end Investor Relations report, the company’s management resources have been allocated to a number of crypto-related projects. In addition to issuing the aforementioned bitcoin bond, last year Fisco “established a cryptocurrency fund management [division] for the purpose of operating a virtual currency fund,” the report shows. Furthermore, a holding company called Fisco Digital Asset Group was created in October of last year. The company elaborated:

We will continue to promote our unique virtual currency strategy that takes advantage of the high expertise of the financial market of the Fisco Group. It is a policy to accelerate development and deployment of various products and services related to virtual currency.

Fisco also plans to expand its cryptocurrency exchange offerings to include “financial derivatives products using virtual currency, B2B services such as issuing virtual currency corporate bonds, and B2C services such as crowdfunding,” the company’s report elaborated.