Invesco MF puts launch of blockchain fund on hold over regulatory concerns

Move follows RBI alarm bells on crypto; The fund was to invest in Invesco CoinShares Global Blockchain UCITS ETF, an ETF listed globally

Invesco Mutual Fund has put the launch of its blockchain fund Invesco CoinShares Global Blockchain ETF Fund of Fund on the backburner because of regulatory concerns.

The fund was to invest in Invesco CoinShares Global Blockchain UCITS ETF, an exchange traded fund listed on global stock markets, which would mimic returns of Elwood Blockchain Global Equity Index--comprising companies that get their revenues through the blockchain technology. The fund was slated to open for subscribtion on November 24.  

"From the developments of the last few days, Indian lawmakers have been meeting participants in the country's digital assets industry, which will likely culminate in a new legislative framework being formulated," the fund house said in a note on Wednesday.

The Reserve Bank of India has recently sounded the alarm on cryptocurrencies.

“When the central bank, which has been entrusted to maintain macroeconomic and financial stability of the country, says after detailed internal deliberations that we have serious concerns (about cryptocurrencies) ... that there are deeper issues, far deeper issues involved, then there should be serious discussions around it,” RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said on the sidelines of the annual SBI Banking & Economics Conclave earlier this week.

“I am yet to see any such serious, well informed discussions,” he said, while lamenting that talks on the issues mostly centre around the fact that it is a new technology and the central bank must embrace or regulate it.

Repeating his warning on the issue once again, the governor said the blockchain technology is a decade old, and it is here to stay and grow, but cryptocurrencies, which are developed around blockchain, are different matters altogether.

The blockchain technology is used in cryptocurrencies.

The RBI governor also stuck to his earlier assertion that the number of users logged in cryptocurrency platforms is “highly exaggerated”.