London-based asset management firm Jupiter Asset Management canceled its investment. XRP
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According to news reports, Jupiter’s Ireland-based gold and silver fund purchased $2.57 million in 21Shares’ Ripple XRP ETP in the first half of 2023.. Those investments were then caught by the company’s routine “oversight process,” after which its compliance team ordered the funds to withdraw their holdings. This resulted in a loss of $834, which Jupiter says has been fully recovered.
The company reportedly canceled its ETP investment because Irish authorities do not allow cryptocurrency exposure in funds managed under UCITS (which stands for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities). UCITS is a regulatory framework that establishes the rules for the sale of mutual funds across European Union member states.
UCITS funds may hold up to 10% of their portfolio in illiquid assets. However, European regulators have different rules on whether funds can invest in products containing cryptocurrencies. Jupiter’s gold and silver fund held cryptocurrencies even before the Irish government announced its opposition to the investment, the FT reported.
Regulators in Ireland, France and the UK have said UCITS funds cannot invest in cryptocurrency assets. Meanwhile, Germany allows UCITS funds to invest in cryptocurrency ETPs, provided that the products reflect the value of the cryptocurrency assets on a one-to-one basis.
21 weeks explained The official Q&A page stated that ETP “does not have a definitive answer” on whether UCITS funds are eligible, and that based on its evaluation, the product “may be considered eligible.”
Jupiter Asset Management did not immediately respond to The Block’s request for further comment.
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About the author
Danny Park is The Block’s East Asia reporter, writing about topics including Web3 development and cryptocurrency regulation in the region. He previously worked as a reporter for Forkast.News, where he actively covered the fall of Terra-Luna and FTX. Based in Seoul, Danny previously produced written and video content for media companies in Korea, Hong Kong and China. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Business Marketing from the University of Hong Kong.