Māori-led fintech launches New Zealand's first crypto fund with local custodian

The implosion of the exchange FTX shows how the cryptocurrency industry, built in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, has drifted far from its original ideals. Illustration / Pablo Delcan, The New York Times

• Māori-led fintech has launched the first crypto fund structured as a wholesale Portfolio Investment Entity.
• CEO Luke Ryan aims to attract $100 million-plus in the first year, supporting a global digital asset hub.
• The Quay Cove Ethereum Growth Fund, costing over $2m, is currently open to wholesale investors only.

A Māori-led fintech has launched the country’s first crypto fund to be structured as a wholesale Portfolio Investment Entity with a New Zealand-based custodian.

Chief executive Luke Ryan (Ngā Puhi) – who was a co-founder of the Titan Tiki project to help protect Māori non-fungible tokens (NFTs) – says the fund wants to attract $100 million-plus in its first year and will support New Zealand becoming recognised as a global digital asset hub.

He said New Zealand’s growing global reputation as a safe haven for international investors helped launch the fund.

“The idea behind the fund began with Everlasting, a company focused on legacy planning and estate management. Through our work with high-net-worth clients, we noticed a growing interest in digital assets, particularly Ethereum – which led to the development of an accessible and regulated wholesale investment giving investors access to digital assets,” Ryan said.

Everlasting Group CEO and founder of Quay Cove, Luke Ryan.

“What we are hearing from the global market is that New Zealand is being seen as the world’s ‘cold wallet’ now – which in other words means digital assets held here are effectively insulated from the turmoil in the rest of the world by our regulatory stability and High Court rulings.

“While our geographic isolation has historically been a challenge for product exporters, in the world of financial products there is growing awareness among investors in Singapore and the greater Asia region that investing in New Zealand is not a bad idea.

“This poses an interesting narrative because we’re not telling everyone that we want everything, but we’re saying this is an option that you can consider for investment in digital assets and you could be a high-net-worth individual or you could be an asset manager that just wants to put a small allocation here.”

The Quay Cove Ethereum Growth Fund (QCEG), which cost over $2m and took two years to get to market, follows the establishment of the country’s largest Ethereum staking operation, by Everlasting.

Ethereum is a public blockchain and smart contract platform that keeps track of all transactions and allows people to interact with smart contracts – on-chain apps that automatically carry out terms without needing a middleman.

Ryan says while QCEG is currently open to wholesale investors only, they are looking to create a retail product as demand grows.