Valkyrie Launches Avalanche Trust for TradFi Exposure to AVAX Token

Crypto investment firm Valkyrie said Wednesday it is launching an Avalanche Trust (VAVAX) for traditional investors looking to gain exposure to the Avalanche ecosystem. According to sources familiar with the matter, the trust has already secured $25 million.

The Avalanche Trust launch comes two weeks after Valkyrie established a “Multi-Coin Trust” that invested in a basket of base-layer tokens including AVAX. This new fund is one of the only AVAX-specific funds targeting accredited investors.

Avalanche is a proof-of-stake blockchain and competitor to Ethereum in decentralized finance, or DeFi. Its native fees token was trading near $60 Tuesday, well off all-time highs above $130 set last November, according to CoinGecko.

“By launching this trust, we are able to give qualified investors exposure to a protocol that they have been increasingly asking about as DeFi projects, NFT platforms, and many other projects have increasingly begun to build on the Avalanche blockchain,” said Valkyrie Investments Chief Investment Officer Steven McClurg in a press release.

The Avalanche Trust offers daily redemptions for shares, according to its fact sheet, in contrast with Multi-Coin Trust’s monthly redemption schedule. Its minimum investment is $25,000, with a 2% management fee.

Copper Technologies acts as the custodian for the fund, Cohen & Company handles audits and tax, Theorem Fund Services is the administrator, and Chapman + Cutler LLP is the fund’s legal counsel.