Asset Manager Pimco to Extend Crypto Involvement: Report

Investment behemoth Pimco, which has over $2.2 trillion in assets under management, has dabbled in cryptocurrencies and plans to invest further, according to Chief Investment Officer Daniel Ivascyn.

• Ivascyn told CNBC on Wednesday that some of the fixed-income focused firm’s hedge-fund portfolios are already trading crypto-linked securities, which he described as a “starting point.”

• “We’re trading from a relative value perspective. So we’re not taking directional exposure, but we’re looking to take advantage of mispricings between the cash product, popular trust that trades on the exchange, and then the futures.”

• Ivascyn said Pimco is exploring potentially trading crypto, but stressed that it will be taking “baby steps” and focusing heavily on internal diligence.

• He went on to say that Pimco is “thinking about scenarios where this could take us to ensure that we are competitively prepared to deal with what’s a rapidly changing environment that offers a pretty significant value proposition.”

• His comments come in a week that has seen the first bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange – a development some observers expect to accelerate the flow of institutional money into crypto.