Here’s Why Crypto Custodian Anchorage Joined an Alternative Investment Association

Regulated crypto custody firm Anchorage is joining the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), a policy group for the fund management industry with over 2,000 members including most of the world’s hedge funds.

Anchorage has also contributed to AIMA’s first-ever Digital Asset Custody Report, which will come out in March.

Institutional capital is flowing into the digital assets space, with nimble investment firms like Brevan Howard and Point72 leading the charge, plus a host of other hedge fund managers operating below the radar.

What Anchorage is doing in the digital asset space, in terms of working with regulators and becoming a federally chartered bank, is similar to the evolution of the alternative investments back in the day, said Anchorage’s relationship manager, Nicole Civitello.

Read more: Crypto Hedge Funds Show Growing Appetite for DeFi: PwC

“We’ve seen this story play out before if you look at hedge funds in the early ‘90s,” Civitello said in an interview. “It was very much like the Wild West; there was no regulation and you had an industry that was mainly retail and individuals at first. Once a regulatory framework was introduced and the rules were established, then there was an opportunity for institutions to come in with capital in a meaningful way.”

Anchorage was valued at over $3 billion in a $350 million funding round late last year.

Read more: Anchorage Closes In on FDIC Crypto Custodian Deal, Documents Show