Neuberger Berman's $164M Commodities Fund Can Invest 5% in Bitcoin

The investment manager has tweaked its strategy and will now focus its crypto investments solely on bitcoin.

Aug 20, 2021 at 10:04 p.m. UTC

Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 1:43 p.m. UTC

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Neuberger Berman

Neuberger Berman’s $164 million commodities fund can invest up to 5% of its assets in bitcoin futures and funds, the asset manager said Friday, following up the news from last week that it would consider cryptocurrencies.

“Effective immediately,” Neuberger Berman Commodity Strategy Fund may invest in bitcoin futures and Canada’s bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF), a regulatory filing said.
The fund got an initial go-ahead to chase bitcoin and ether exposure through derivative products on Aug. 11. Ether now appears to be off the table; Friday's bitcoin-only filing said it "replaces" the original.
While certain ETFs are now on the fund's whitelist, it still cannot invest directly in digital assets – likely because of regulatory concerns.
The new filing indicates that Neuberger Berman – a $400 billion asset manager – is eyeing crypto investments if not already participating in the market.

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