Investors aren’t sweating the crypto plunge: State Street

Banking giant State Street says global asset managers remain undeterred by the cryptocurrency “winter” as they gear up to launch a barrage of new digital asset and crypto products.

The price of cryptocurrencies has plunged this year as interest rates have risen, with bitcoin tumbling more than 50 per cent since January, in what has been dubbed a “crytpo winter”.

However, the rush of new financial instruments attached to the crypto trend would indicate that the traditional players are banking on the asset class to stick around.

Irfan Ahmad, the digital lead for Asia Pacific at State Street Digital, said the outfit’s institutional clients were still keen on crypto and the underlying technology that supports digital assets.

State Street is the world’s largest custodian bank, meaning it holds financial assets on behalf of investment managers. It is working with asset management firms as they look to gain exposure to the crypto sector.

“During the course of the June, July period where things were really hotting up in terms of activity, we saw institutional clients not necessarily double down, but they weren’t really deterred from placing strategic bets on the asset class itself,” Ahmad said in an interview.

“The takeaway from that is, I think there is a belief that the asset class is here to stay. And we, as an asset servicer, will obviously partner with our clients where they believe their ambition lies.”

With the exception of the Commonwealth Bank, which last year announced a crypto investing pilot that has since hit regulatory delays, most Australian financial institutions have steered clear of cryptocurrencies, viewing them as too risky.

However, some overseas giants are moving into crypto assets. Last month Goldman Sachs launched its first bitcoin-backed loan, while investment behemoth BlackRock launched a product that gives institutional clients exposure to Bitcoin.