Chinese fund touts offshore crypto exposure in Alipay ad amid bitcoin boom
The fund boasted in the ad that it is heavily invested in Coinbase, a US cryptocurrency exchange listed in New York
A Chinese fund manager has touted its fund’s cryptocurrency exposure in an effort to draw investors amid a historic bitcoin boom, even as Beijing maintains a hostile stance towards the digital assets.
A fund advertisement that read “Cryptocurrencies soaring, start investing with 10 yuan” was spotted on Alipay, Chinese fintech giant Ant Group’s mobile wallet app, crypto-focused outlet Wu Blockchain reported on Thursday.
The fund, a Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) fund operated by Shanghai-based Hwabao WP Fund Management, boasted in the ad that it is heavily invested in Coinbase, a US cryptocurrency exchange listed in New York, and the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF offered by US asset manager Ark Invest.
QDII products, which allow qualified institutional investors to acquire overseas securities, have been one of the few avenues where individual mainland Chinese investors can access offshore equities.
The top holdings of the QDII fund Hwabao marketed on Alipay include Ark Invest’s ARK Innovation ETF and ARK Fintech innovation ETF, both of which count Coinbase among their top holdings.
“The fund is issued by Hwabao WP Fund and advertised through its account on the Ant Fortune page,” said a spokesperson at Ant Fortune, Ant Group’s wealth management platform.
