Accel, Citi Ventures (Citi’s venture capital investing group) and crypto luminaries such as Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal and other hedge fund managers have invested US$6 million in xalts, in an indication that Wall Street and Silicon Valley are coming together to build digital asset management solutions focused on connecting institutional investors to the crypto ecosystem.
Earlier in the year, Ashutosh Goel, former Portfolio Manager – Balance Sheet Management at HSBC, and former Meta Asia Executive Supreet Kaur teamed up to build xalts an investment management and technology company concentrated on operating real-money institutional participation in the digital asset system in a secure and compliant manner.
Several large crypto firms lack basic controls and checks and balances which came into the forefront this past summer which most people disregard in the financial industry. With xalts, the company is building pioneering, institutional-grade investment products and solutions which focus on high-ranking compliance and control specifications that institutional investors care about, said Ashutosh Goel, Co-Founder, and CIO at xalts. The next stage of development in digital assets would be determined by institutional participation in the asset category, he added.
xalts is anticipated to unveil multiple fund products connected to digital assets, involving mutual funds and ETFs listed on various global exchanges. The firm is also leveraging its technology platform to team up with various asset management businesses and venturing infrastructure providers to jointly unveil and manage mutual funds and ETFs.
Additionally, xalts is developing various other products in partnership with other competitors in the ecological unit, comprising a structured product and repackaging platform which would facilitate institutions to issue structured notes with embedded crypto options.
Institutional investors’ interest in digital assets has increased in recent years. In 2021, Professional investors traded US$1.14 trillion of cryptocurrencies on Coinbase Global Inc., associated with $120 billion in the previous year. Earlier this calendar month, financial leaders including Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, and Fidelity Investments announced the introduction of a novel cryptocurrency exchange, EDX Markets, which also saw participation from Virtu Financial and Paradigm.
There is plenty of pent-up demand from institutional stakeholders to take part in the digital asset class. Nevertheless, a lot of institutions are not able to access this ecosystem directly. The company’s products and solutions tide over without negotiating the high standards of safety and compliance expected by institutional investors, said Supreet Kaur, Chief Operating Officer at xalts. Apart from investors, the company is also considering a lot of interest from fund managers and issuers to use their platform to unveil structured and fund products for their clients. Xalts anticipate building a team of 30 by the end of this fiscal year across their offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, and Geneva.
Luis Valdich, Managing Director at Citi Ventures stated that xalts is their initial investment in a digital asset manager, and supports its vision of generating innovative products to meet the growing appetite of institutional investors for more cost-effective and healthier crypto-open investments.
The theory is that institutional adoption of digital assets would continue to accelerate and sees a big prospect in this area, said Abhinav Chaturvedi, Partner, Accel.
About xalts
xalts is a global investment management and technology firm, founded in 2022. Headquartered in Hong Kong, the company develops proprietary investment products, platforms, and solutions for global institutions to access opportunities in the digital asset class in a secure and compliant manner. The firm has offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, New Delhi, and Geneva.
A trusted partner for leading global institutional investors and issuers looking to participate in the digital asset class through three core offerings:
- Asset Management: Digital asset-connected exchange-traded products, for instance, ETFs, UCITS, and ETPs listed on global exchanges and mutual funds.
- Issuance Platforms: Technology and infrastructure to accelerate third-party issuance of digital asset-connected structured notes and asset management products.
- ALM Solutions: Treasury solutions leveraging blockchain & tokenization to accelerate investment throughout traditional and digital asset programs.
xalts is backed by marquee venture capital firms, Wall Street banks and hedge funds creating collaborations with some of the leading global crypto firms, trading firms, and asset managers.
About Accel
Accel is a global venture capital firm backed by Atlassian, CrowdStrike, Bumble, Flipkart, DJI, Fiverr, Freshworks, Segment, Qualtrics, Spotify, Slack, Tenable, Squarespace, and UiPath among the companies over the past 35 years. The company helps aspiring entrepreneurs create iconic global enterprises.
About Citi Ventures
Citi Ventures catalyzes modernization and accelerates development. The group invests in and cohorts with category-defining start-ups with the potential to expand and enhance Citi’s products and services, and works with Citi co-workers, customers, and the innovation ecosystem to test with next-generation technologies and develop innovative products and services that respond to the altering landscape of the 21st century. Since its inception in 2010, the team has financed more than 100 start-ups across seven focus areas from Fintech to DLT and Digital Assets.
