Crypto hedge fund managers JellyC and Trovio merge to attract pension fund investment

Australian crypto hedge fund manager JellyC has merged with Singapore’s Trovio Asset Management in a bid to attract larger allocations from investors such as pension fund investment.

According to Bloomberg’s Oct. 23 report, company executives said Australian hedge fund manager JellyC will retain a majority stake as it merges its operations with Trovio Asset Management.

Trovio CEO Jon Deane said Trovio plans to eventually divest its stake in the combined business, but did not specify when that would happen.

JellyC Co-Founder Michael Prendiville said the merger aims to bring the combined assets of both hedge fund managers up to 150% from current assets equal to AUD250 million or US$166.5 million.

He noted that JellyC and Trovio are eyeing large investors in the Asia Pacific region, particularly Australian pension funds.

“If we’re not at capacity, we won’t get the allocation,” Prendiville said.

So far, Australia has yet to inject its pension funds into digital assets. However, Prendiville believes this will change over time as Australia implements crypto regulations.

In May 2024, Coinbase announced it was working on a new service that would offer crypto investment products for portfolios that make up about a quarter of Australia’s $2.5 trillion superannuation system.

Meanwhile, other countries such as Japan and South Korea allocated their pension funds to crypto-related entities. South Korea’s National Pension Service, which manages approximately $800 billion in assets, purchased 24,500 MicroStrategy shares for $33.75 million.

MicroStrategy is currently the largest institutional holder of Bitcoin and has over 252,000 BTC in reserves.

The Government of Japan Pension Investment Fund, Japan’s and the world’s largest pension fund, announced in a press release that it is considering the possibility of hosting Bitcoin as well as other commodities, including farmland, forests and gold.

In July 2024, the Michigan State Retirement System invested approximately $6.6 million in ARK 21Shares’ ARKB spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.