Alan Howard who is billionaire hedge-fund owner of Elwood Asset Management has announced plans to draw in institutional investors with considerable wealth into digital assets such as blockchain technology.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Chief Executive Bin Ren has stated that their new regulator-approved products will encompass the entire platform cryptocurrency assets.

The company recently launched an exchange-traded fund (ETF) in a partnership with Invesco.

What’s significant about this launch is that the ETF is primarily concerned with companies who are developing blockchain technology related products.

Despite the regulatory uncertainty over cryptocurrencies and concerns over security and market manipulation which has led to several would-be investors staying away from the nascent industry, Bin Ren has stated this makes blockchain an easier sell currently.

He further added that Elwood has plans for the development of investments tied to digital assets trading and may even offer a platform to offer Bitcoin and Ethereum.

“The only way for institutions to get meaningful exposure to digital assets has been to buy Bitcoin, but many are reluctant or unable to buy Bitcoin — and for a good reason. An ETF gives a highly liquid and regulated way to gain exposure. This is the right point to start,’’ Ren said.

Following the bull run in late-2017, in which the cryptocurrencies market cap reached over $800 billion, an 80%+ drop has followed, with the market cap now around $130 billion.

This steep drop-off combined with many systemic issues plaguing the industry has caused many retail and institutional investors to sell-off the asset class or avoid exposure altogether.

However, there have been several major signs of progress over the last few months such as the Fidelity platform and Bakkt to name a few, which has led to the renewed promise of a future upturn.

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