Valkyrie Sets Up Avalanche Trust for Accredited Investors

Valkyrie, an alternative asset management firm, launched the Valkyrie Avalanche Trust (VAVAX) on Wednesday to invest solely in Avalanche blockchain’s native token, AVAX.

The fund is open to accredited investors including banks, insurance companies, brokers, trusts and high-net-worth individuals.

VAVAX, whose minimum investment requirement is $25,000 and a 2% management fee, has already secured $25 million, CoinDesk reports.

“By launching this trust, we are able to give qualified investors exposure to a protocol that they have been increasingly asking about as DeFi projects, NFT platforms, and many other projects have increasingly begun to build on the Avalanche blockchain,” Steven McClurg, Valkyrie’s Chief Investment Officer, said in a press statement.

Consolidations

The launch of VAVAX comes some weeks after Valkyrie launched its Multi-Coin Trust; and some months after the Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners Exchange-Traded Fund (NASDAQ: WGMI) kicked off.

While the Multi-Coin Trust seeks to invest in a group of base-layer tokens such as AVAX, the WGMI as an exchange-traded fund (ETF) focuses on companies operating in the bitcoin mining industry.

The WGMI, which is the third ETF to be offered by Valkyrie, invests in bitcoin mining companies with 80% holdings and at least 50% renewable energy for mining.

However, Valkyrie’s previous ETF, the Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy focuses on bitcoin futures. The ETF has received the approval of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as it is not a spot bitcoin ETF.

The SEC, which has already rejected several ETF applications from WisdomTree, Krypton, Fidelity and SkyBridge, is yet to approve any spot bitcoin ETF.

Twice, the SEC has postponed its decision on Grayscale's application, a digital currency investing services company, to convert its GBPTC shares into a spot bitcoin ETF.

The financial industry watchdog is concerned about how Grayscale will fend off manipulation and fraud with the investment instrument.