Hedge fund giant Renaissance Technologies, which manages about $166 billion in regulatory assets, is ready to venture into Bitcoin (BTC) futures.
In a new filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Renaissance reveals it has green-lighted its $10-billion flagship Medallion fund to enter the Bitcoin futures market.
The Long Island-based firm acknowledges the risks that come with investing in Bitcoin, describing the king coin as a relatively new and speculative asset due to its limited history, decentralized system, lack of recognition as a legal tender and its potential to power fraudulent transactions.
“Investment results may vary substantially over time. These instruments involve substantially more risk and potential for loss relative to more conventional financial instruments.
Investments of this type should be considered substantially more speculative and significantly more likely to result in a total loss of capital than many other investments.”
Renaissance, one of the largest hedge funds in the world, says it is limiting crypto trading activities to Bitcoin futures contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the largest futures exchange in the world. CME’s Bitcoin futures are cash-settled, so they do not not involve the actual exchange of BTC.
The firm’s interest in Bitcoin marks the extensive reach of the crypto industry and its ability to continue to attract top tier institutional investors. Renaissance Technologies’ Medallion fund recently reported a massive 24% gain for 2020 despite the pandemic-induced market downturn. It made a 9.9% return in March, outperforming the S&P 500 which turned in days of historically low declines amidst a broad market sell-off.
