Greenwich-based asset manager, One River has become the latest hedge fund to disclose that it holds a significant amount of its portfolio in cryptocurrencies.
According to a Bloomberg report today, Eric Peters, CEO of One River Asset Management, revealed that the company already holds $600 million in cryptocurrencies and will boost its Bitcoin and ETH position to $1 billion by early 2021.
Peters said that “There is going to be a generational allocation to this new asset class” and that “flows have only just begun.”
One River had partnered with Alan Howard, the co-founder of macro hedge fund Brevan Howard Asset Management, which has $7 billion in assets under management. Alan Howard reportedly has invested in One River’s Digital Funds and will also buy a 25% stake in the business.
In explaining how One River executed its purchases and at what price they got in, he said the company ‘executed his trades as inconspicuously as possible and finished all the buying in November before Bitcoin hit $16,000.’
A UK-based investment firm, Ruffer LLP, is another fund that also invested in One River. Ruffer disclosed this week that it invested 2.5% of one of its funds in Bitcoin, referring to the position as “a small but potent insurance policy against the continuing devaluation of the world’s major currencies.”
One River joins the growing list of hedge fund and institutional firms that have gotten into Bitcoin in recent months. The most recent of those was a U.S insurance company, MassMutual, which disclosed its $100 million bitcoin position last week.
Since the turn of the year, other key hedge fund managers, including Paul Tudor Jones and Stanley Druckenmiller, have revealed their admiration and investments in Bitcoin.
Earlier today, Bitcoin crossed the $20,000 mark to set a new all-time high. The cryptocurrency was trading at $20,694 at the time of writing with a market cap just above $384 billion.
