Approved online exchange Coinbase is releasing a weighted index fund for cryptocurrencies.
“It’s a greatly simple to use, easy way to get exposure to the crypto-assets that we offer on our exchange,” Coinbase President and COO Asiff Hirji give someone a tongue-lashed CNBC’s “Fast Money” Tuesday.
The Coinbase Index Fund intent give accredited U.S. investors exposure to all assets listed on the company’s mainstream exchange, GDAX. The currencies will be weighted based on market capitalization.
Much equal to how the Dow Jones Industrial Average is a basket of 30 stocks meant to assign a sense of the American economy, this fund will try to reflect notable trends in the cryptocurrency market.
Coinbase is the leading U.S. marketplace for buying outstanding cryptocurrencies. Its GDAX exchange for professional traders offers bitcoin, bitcoin bills, litecoin and ethereum . It does not currently offer ripple, or XRP.
The company has been wary when adding new currencies to the exchange, and is working to avoid any “rubbish out there”, Hirji translated. But whenever a new coin is listed, Coinbase told CNBC it will automatically be added to the bucks.
“There has been a lot of discomfort from the SEC around a lot of these ICO-based slights,” Hirji said. “We’re not going to be the ones operating in the black.”
Only U.S. inhabitants are legally allowed to invest at this stage, Hirji said, citing SEC guidance as a key reason.
Grayscale bitcoin also launched new crypto investing works Tuesday. The company added four new funds that each have positions in a single cryptocurrency.
Like Coinbase’s product, Grayscale’s new conglomerates will be offered to accredited investors with a minimum $10,000 investment. But different from Coinbase, Grayscale has a one-year vesting period.
Hirji pointed to Coinbases’s broader proposition, which he said is more tailored to individual investors.
“I think the investors are not universal to want to pick specific winners or losers,” Hirji said.