Multi-Billion Dollar Assets Management Firm Neuberger Berman Wants To Invest 5% Of $164M Commodities Fund In Bitcoin

Multi-billion dollar assets management firm Neuberger Berman intends to invest up to 5% of its $164 million commodities mutual fund in bitcoin effective immediately, according to its latest amended filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The New York-based firm announced that it wants to gain indirect exposure to bitcoin by way of Bitcoin futures and BTC exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the latter of which are approved for trading in Canada.

“Effective immediately, Neuberger Berman Commodity Strategy’s Fund’s investment strategy will permit the fund to invest up to 5% of its assets in cryptocurrency investments through bitcoin futures and investments in  the securities of exchange-traded funds organized and listed for trading in Canada to gain indirect exposure to bitcoin.”

The document stated that Neuberger is seeking indirect exposure to cryptocurrency investments for two primary reasons. First, the firm wants to grow the fund and use it as a hedge against fiat inflation and secondly, the firm wants to take advantage of the crypto market price trends that could be a potentially lucrative source of revenue.

The new amendment, which was filed on August 20, also replaced the firm’s original filing on August 11 that included both BTC and ETH derivatives as additional investment options for the fund.

More Firms Dropping Ethereum Futures/ETFs from SEC Application

Neuberger notably dropped any mention of ETH on its latest filing, making it the third major firm in the US to reconsider its strategy while trying to get approval from the US SEC to diversify its crypto portfolio.

Asset management firms VanEck and ProShares also withdrew their filings for their ETH futures ETFs a day or two after their initial filings on August 18. The companies further clarified that no securities had yet been sold in connection with either of the firms. According to VanEck’s statement, the Trust had determined not to proceed with the offering of the ETH product at the moment.

However, a Senior Analyst at Bloomberg, Eric Balchunas commented on the withdrawal from the firms, saying that the US SEC might have shut the requests down. Balchunas added that the US SEC could be communicating to asset management firms to be content with BTC ETFs for now.

“As long as we only see the Ether one ejected, I’d say that’s decent news for Bitcoin ETFs. Sort of like them saying, let’s baby step this, only bitcoin rn.”

Meanwhile, in addition to approving BTC ETFs, Canada has multiple Ether ETFs, including CI Canadian Ethereum ETF, Purpose Ether ETF, Evolve Ether ETF, and 3!Q Coinshares Ether ETF.