Second largest German investment company invests in Bitcoin from Q4 2021

[tyz]

One of Germany's largest investment companies Union Investment (total assets under management $450 billion) add Bitcoin certificates to around 1-2% of the volume of its mixed funds from the fourth quarter of 2021.  This was announced by the asset manager today. The company has experimented with Bitcoin certificates before and they seem to have been successful, so they will now be actively add to the funds. The company cited increasing customer interest as the main reason.

Source (German): https://www.institutional-money.com/news/maerkte/headline/union-investment-holt-bitcoin-in-fonds-krypto-erreicht-massen-209548/

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[swogerino]

The company cited increasing customer interest as the main reason.

I think this is the part which interests most to us the forum users,increased adoption of Bitcoin which in turn will translate into higher price of the Bitcoin.This as a consequence will make somewhat richer the people that are holding some fraction of the Bitcoin and will make richer the ones who are holding more than a couple of Bitcoins in their crypto portfolio.I wonder how big German companies have not done so before considering they are the most powerful economy and the heart of all Europe.I wish we see more and more of this kind of news.

[yazher]

Maybe this is some kind of new story for me since only today I heard that before they go into an investment they will announce it. Isn't it early to conclude that matter because if they do that, someone will surely put some money and will withdraw it as soon as the market will explode with this massive investment? I don't know if my speculation is right, I think someone needs to explain the article above posted.

[Tim-BTC]

As long as the price of bitcoin has recovered, there has been a steady flow of news about big companies buying bitcoins; if it has fallen, there has been a flood of bad news. Now the media according to the market mood stubborn news, thus driving the market mood.

[avikz]

What are bitcoin certificates? Is it like a derivative instrument where no physical bitcoins are transferred? Or does it deal in physical bitcoins?

Increase in institutional adoption is a reason to worry! The kind of money some institutions hold, they can easily become the controller of the bitcoin market which is mostly driven by the retail investors. Since the institutional investors hold sheer volume, retail investors will not be able to cope with them. I don't think this is a news to cheer.

[davis196]

What the hell is a "Bitcoin certificate"?Are they buying actual Bitcoins or not?
Is this another shitty Bitcoin derivative,like Bitcoin futures or some other financial assets,which are(or claim to be) backed by Bitcoin?Are these Bitcoin certificates a proof of ownership?
Anyway,it's good to know that another big institutional investor seems to be interested in Bitcoin.
Maybe Germany will become more Bitcoin friendly in the future.
I want more bullish news in September and the upcoming months.The FUD media must shut up for a while.

Edit:The guy above me posted the same question 10 seconds before me,while I was writing my post.
Damn it I'm not fast enough.

[SFR10]

Maybe this is some kind of new story for me since only today I heard that before they go into an investment they will announce it.

Based on tyz's comment and the following translation, there was a "pilot test" before they chose to dive in ^[Q4]:

• The Frankfurt asset manager Union Investment plans to include such investments in other funds after a pilot test with Bitcoin certificates. This means that cryptocurrencies are increasingly reaching the mass market in Germany.

if they do that, someone will surely put some money and will withdraw it as soon as the market will explode with this massive investment?

Not sure if I understood everything that you just said, but from where I am, you can't withdraw/pull out everything prior to the length/duration of the contract ^{[there will be penalties]}.

What are bitcoin certificates? Is it like a derivative instrument where no physical bitcoins are transferred?

Is this another shitty Bitcoin derivative,like Bitcoin futures or some other financial assets,which are(or claim to be) backed by Bitcoin?

Based on the following article about investments in Germany, I believe both of you are correct ^{[unfortunately]}:

Zertifikate - certificates or instruments using derivatives to reflect movements in indices or markets

[The Cryptovator]

It was really hard to understand what is Bitcoin certificate, but with a little research found a clue what is Bitcoin certificate. So here is it, Bitcoin certificate issuing by a bank and they will give a certificate like deposit slip which would sell at any time. Means you aren't holding anything against your investment except a piece of paper. You aren't the owner of that fund you have invested until it's released by the bank. Sound something like Bitcoin ETF. Not holding any real Bitcoin on your wallet.

You may read this article for more information about Bitcoin certificates, Are Bitcoin Certificates A Sensible Investment? I don't know why this investor chooses this way to invest in Bitcoin rather than buying direct Bitcoin into their own wallet.

[Lucius]

I don't know why this investor chooses this way to invest in Bitcoin rather than buying direct Bitcoin into their own wallet.

One of the most logical answers is probably that this way is far simpler than investing directly in Bitcoin. However, this would require a much higher level of insurance and complete infrastructure in order to provide such a service to clients. All in all, when we look at how investing in crypto takes place, a large part is focused on such strategies where there is no direct contact with crypto.

Sound something like Bitcoin ETF.

There are two types of ETFs, physical and virtual - where the first fund actually buys Bitcoin on the basis of which it then sells shares in the fund.

[Dhaniii]

One of Germany's largest investment companies Union Investment (total assets under management $450 billion) add Bitcoin certificates to around 1-2% of the volume of its mixed funds from the fourth quarter of 2021.  This was announced by the asset manager today. The company has experimented with Bitcoin certificates before and they seem to have been successful, so they will now be actively add to the funds. The company cited increasing customer interest as the main reason.

Source (German): https://www.institutional-money.com/news/maerkte/headline/union-investment-holt-bitcoin-in-fonds-krypto-erreicht-massen-209548/

it looks like they want to increase the interest of mixed fund managers in crypto assets. Many tend to enter different asset classes through certificates and other derivatives and are increasingly examining those investments for their portfolios. but they see the session gains from bitcoin are greater than funds invested in portfolio funds.

[stompix]

Ok, got an English source:
https://u.today/437-billion-german-asset-manager-to-add-bitcoin-exposure-to-various-funds

The first bad thing is that I expected that investment to be higher, it's  actually a tiny bit of a tiny bit.

Daniel Bathe, senior commodities portfolio manager, told Bloomberg that the allocation will be limited to 2%:
The firm added delta-one certificates that track the value of the largest cryptocurrency to one of its mixed investment funds (PrivatFonds Flexibel Pro). Bitcoin constitutes less than 1% of the fund's $352 million portfolio, which is heavily dominated by equities (80.32%).

So the investment will be limited to $7 million, not bad but would have been lovely to see at least double digits, especially since we're talking about a hundred billion investment fund. My other dilemma about those "certificates", will there be a requirement for companies that offer such products to actually hold the amount of BTC, or ...the usual gold paper with a promise of payment.

[hatshepsut93]

Bitcoin is on the rise so the announcements of institutional investments have resumed. There's hope that the ATH will be surpassed before the end of the year if there will be more positive news and bullish momentum.

So the investment will be limited to $7 million, not bad but would have been lovely to see at least double digits, especially since we're talking about a hundred billion investment fund. My other dilemma about those "certificates", will there be a requirement for companies that offer such products to actually hold the amount of BTC, or ...the usual gold paper with a promise of payment.

Even if the amount is small, it can inspire other potential investors to finally buy Bitcoin, which can in turn trigger chain reaction, like it happened earlier this year.

[uneng]

Bitcoin is on the rise so the announcements of institutional investments have resumed. There's hope that the ATH will be surpassed before the end of the year if there will be more positive news and bullish momentum.

So the investment will be limited to $7 million, not bad but would have been lovely to see at least double digits, especially since we're talking about a hundred billion investment fund. My other dilemma about those "certificates", will there be a requirement for companies that offer such products to actually hold the amount of BTC, or ...the usual gold paper with a promise of payment.

Even if the amount is small, it can inspire other potential investors to finally buy Bitcoin, which can in turn trigger chain reaction, like it happened earlier this year.

Yes, it's likely bitcoin will hit a new ATH soon and that another european investment funds adopt bitcoin in their portfolio because as we can see in the link shared by @stompix, this kind of adoption is only being possible because a new law passed in Germany recently allowing institutional funds to hold up to 20% of their total assets in Bitcoin.

The article also says about 415$ billion in Europe could be potentially converted into Bitcoin, if institutional investors adopt it, following the same trend there is now in Germany. That is indeed a lot of money, and although I believe it can become real, for now it's just speculation.