When Ruffer Investment wanted bitcoin in November it turned to One River Digital, which went to Coinbase to hit the “buy” button on a purchase now worth over $ 745 million, Ruffer’s representative confirmed to CoinDesk.
In a recent portfolio update, Ruffer referred to the involvement of “the world’s largest digital asset custodian” without naming names. “Access to the bitcoin is controlled by multi-layer security protocols,” Ruffer wrote of its cold storage setup. A second source confirmed to CoinDesk that Coinbase was the custodian described in Ruffer’s portfolio update. Coinbase Custody announced last month that it is storing over $ 20 billion in customer assets.
The revelation throws light on how big investors enter the bitcoin market: namely through trusted partners. Big bets in recent weeks by everyone from MassMutual to Guggenheim are seen as the driving force behind bitcoin’s current price rally. (MassMutual went with NYDIG for its $ 100 million bitcoin purchase.)
As CoinDesk reported Tuesday, Ruffer invested 2.5% of its $ 27 billion portfolio to bitcoin in November. The following day, One River Digital, a crypto reserve from One River Asset Management’s volatility hedge fund, came out of stealth, announcing that it had already brokered $ 600 million in bitcoin and ether for its institutional clients.
Coinbase confirmed on Wednesday that it is conducting a trade execution and crypto custody for One River Digital. He declined to comment about this story.
One River Digital did not respond to a request for comment.
Ruffer’s revelation shows how far Coinbase San Francisco is reaching the world of fund management.
Earlier this month, it revealed itself as the “lead operating partner” for MicroStrategy’s $ 425 million purchase in the fall. A case study published by Coinbase explained how the company pulls off market swamp allocations without warning traders.
Meanwhile, Ruffer explained in his portfolio update that macroeconomic factors are leading the manager’s bitcoin bet.
“The current macroeconomic environment is perfectly set up for an asset that blends the benefits of technology and gold,” said Ruffer, adding:
“Negative interest rates, extreme monetary policy, ballooning of public debt, dissatisfaction with governments – all provide powerful tails for bitcoin at a time when conventional safe haven assets, especially government bonds, are dangerously dangerous.”
Ruffer said bitcoin has grown to meet this moment.
“Since 2017, billions of dollars have been invested in the infrastructure needed to support this wave of bitcoin adoption; many of the barriers for institutional investors have been removed. ”
Ruffer’s analysis was clear: these organizations are with more on the way; the cypherpunks fade quickly. The $ 27 billion mega-manager wrote:
“[Bitcoin] it seems to move from being loved by the anti-establishment to being embraced by the dominant interests of the organization. ”
Zack Seward contributed the reports.
ACCURACY [12/21/20 10:46 AM EST]: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Ruffer had a stake in One River Digital.