Swiss Financial Markets Regulator FINMA Approves the First Crypto Fund

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) announced on Wednesday that it had approved the first crypto fund in the country.

The fund called “Crypto Market Index Fund” is an investment fund that invests in digital assets and is restricted to qualified investors. It belongs to the category of “other funds for alternative investments” as per Swiss law.

Swiss market watchdog also noted that FINMA applies the existing provisions of financial market laws in a “consistently technology-neutral” way to facilitate serious innovation.

The financial regulator said by using the ‘“same risks, same rules” principle,” it is making sure the new technologies are not used to circumvent the existing rules.

In the case of crypto, because it involves “particular risks,” specific requirements are further applied, such as the fund may only invest in established crypto assets with a sufficiently large trading volume.

Moreover, specific requirements regarding risk management and reporting for the institutions doing the custody and management are also applied here.

The investments in crypto funds must also be made through established counterparties and platforms that are based in a member country of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and are subject to corresponding anti-money laundering (AML) regulations, it said.