- The Invesco Metaverse Fund has a capitalization of roughly $30 million and is registered in Luxembourg, according to an Invesco representative who spoke with Decrypt.
- The word “Metaverse” refers to a networked system of virtual reality headgear and virtual communities where users can communicate in rich 3D environments.
- The $1.4 trillion US asset management firm Invesco, which launched one of the first bitcoin products in Europe, thinks that a “crypto spring” will entice professional investors to return to digital assets.
Invesco Metaverse fund has been announced. An investment fund with a focus on everything Metaverse has been formed by international asset management company Invesco.
According to an Invesco spokesman who spoke with Decrypt, the Invesco Metaverse Fund is registered in Luxembourg and has a capitalization of about $30 million. The term “Metaverse” describes a connected system of virtual reality headsets and online communities where users can interact in immersive 3D worlds.
According to marketing materials shared with Decrypt, the fund makes investments in large, medium, and small-cap companies throughout the Metaverse Value Chain, which “encompasses many distinct and interrelated sectors that help facilitate, create, or benefit from the growth of immersive virtual worlds.”
Tony Roberts, the fund manager, stated that the interconnectedness of the Mataverse “will likely have a transformative impact across industries as diverse as healthcare, logistics, education and sport.” He cited a PWC December 2020 report that estimates that virtual and augmented reality have the potential to add $1.5 trillion to the global economy.
“We will seek to capitalize on these opportunities through a highly selective, valuation-conscious approach,” added Roberts.
Invesco will invest in 7 main thematic areas
The Invesco Metaverse Fund is an actively managed fund that will make investments in seven core thematic areas, such as networks for hyper connection, next-generation operating and computer systems, hardware, and gadgets that provide access to the Metaverse.
Other investment opportunities include blockchain solutions, AI-powered immersive platforms, the exchange mechanisms necessary to make systems interoperable, and the services and resources that will help the digitization of the real economy.
The Invesco Metaverse Fund’s portfolio includes businesses from the United States, Asia, Japan, and Europe, though the company declined to give specifics about the businesses “just yet.”
According to an Invesco representative, the fund’s management fee will be 0.75%, and its performance will be gauged against the MSCI AC World (Net Total Return) benchmark.
Invesco debuted the first exchange-traded fund (ETF) focused on blockchain in March 2019 on the London Stock Exchange. Additionally, the company actively tried to launch a number of ETFs linked to bitcoin in the United States, but to no effect.
Invesco and CoinShares collaborated to introduce its first European exchange-traded product (ETP) backed by actual Bitcoin in November of last year.
Crypto spring
The $1.4 trillion US asset management Invesco, which introduced one of the first bitcoin products in Europe, believes that a “crypto spring” will encourage professional investors to return to digital assets.
According to Gary Buxton, head of Invesco’s ETFs for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, “We have been in crypto winter, with highly volatile pricing. It has stopped some level of participation in cryptoassets, but I don’t think it has stopped the acknowledgement by most large institutions that they will play an increasingly important part in future.”
Invesco announced the launch of a physical bitcoin ETP in November, marking the company’s entry into the European cryptocurrency market. The product, whose assets total $69 million, tries to replicate the price performance of bitcoin, the most well-known cryptoasset in the world. Two years after introducing its blockchain ETF, which has subsequently expanded its holdings to $590m, Invesco launched its bitcoin ETP.
Despite growing institutional investor appetite for exposure to digital assets, this year’s inflow of fresh capital into products has slowed due to the “crypto winter” or collapse of the cryptocurrency market.
Since the beginning of this year, digital assets have raised $492m in net flows globally, down substantially from the $6.5bn they raised during the same period in 2021, according to data from CoinShares.
“While there has been very little to no asset flows, we will see people coming back into that space as we get back to a steadier volatility path. As we come out of crypto winter into crypto spring, we will be well positioned.” said Buxton.
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