The newly formed Raise Investments has taken over and rebranded the first regulated bitcoin fund to be offered in Australasia.
Raise, an entity owned by the family interests of Implemented Investment Solutions (IIS) and InvestNow founder, Anthony Edmonds, bought the Vault International Bitcoin Fund in a deal finalised last week.
Following the ownership change, the product has been renamed as the Bitcoin ETF PIE in a nod to its portfolio investment entity status and underlying exposure to the crypto darling via several US- and Canada-listed exchange-traded funds.
Boasting about $25 million under management at the latest count, the Vault PIE, established by Vinnie Gardiner with IIS as fund-host, went live late in 2021 as the first retail regulated bitcoin fund in Australia or NZ.
“When we created the Bitcoin ETF PIE Fund in 2021, I remember saying we had invented bitcoin for Boomers,” Edmonds said in a statement. “People in the fund get the investment performance of bitcoin, while investing in a regulated PIE fund with the associated tax benefits.”
He said the Raise bitcoin PIE also falls under the ‘fair dividend regime’ that caps the annual tax liability at 5 per cent of the asset value.
“For example, someone on the top 28 per cent PIE tax rate would pay 1.4 per cent (equating to 28 per cent of 5 per cent) on the fund returns in any tax year,” Edmonds said.
Since Vault hit the market, a wave of crypto funds launched across the world, notably the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF following a rule change by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) early last year.
The NZX-owned Smart badged the iShares fund as a local-listed ETF (also a PIE) last October.
Boutique KiwiSaver provider, Kōura, added a bitcoin option to its menu in May 2022 with a 10 per cent portfolio exposure limit.
Kōura also rechristened the product as the Bitcoin Fund last year, dropping the previous Carbon Neutral Cryptocurrency Fund name: the fund reported about $9.7 million under management as at December 31, 2024 – invested entirely (bar a smattering of cash) in the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund.
Meanwhile, the Vault/Raise bitcoin fund has almost doubled in size since reporting $14.6 million under management (including about $8 million of capital gains) at the end of March last year.
Vault recorded close to $30,000 of management fees and $9,600 in commission revenue for the 12-month period. Subsequently, the manager dropped the annual fees from 1.75 per cent to 0.95 per cent after gaining access to the cheaper, direct bitcoin ETFs flooding the market in the wake of the SEC regulatory fold.
Gardiner said he was “looking forward to being a continuing part of the ever-evolving bitcoin landscape in NZ”, after relinquishing control of Vault.
Raise plans to continue distributing the fund through platforms, including InvestNow, and financial advisers.
Bermuda-based firm, Apex Global, bought IIS and InvestNow in 2022, later rebranding the fund-hosting division as FundRock NZ, which remains as the compliance front for the Raise product (with Public Trust as supervisor and Adminis handling administration).
Edmonds stepped down as head of Apex NZ (a group comprising the former IIS and MMC fund administration businesses) last July but retains a business development role with the firm.