Cigrek Capital has arrived on the fintech scene to offer investment, lending, funding and asset management services in cryptocurrencies and digital assets.
While Cigrek is based in Edinburgh, Laura Barscevska, the startup’s Founder and Managing Director, is located in Riga, Latvia. Her experience includes work for London-headquartered Auxilia Capital.
In an announcement, the fintech firm says it has launched a new regulated EU platform for crypto. Cigrek says it submitting its application along with its first sub-funds for regulated alternative investment funds that contain crypto assets.
Cigrek comments: “There is a huge gap in the market for crypto funds that are not just ETFs but actually own and trade crypto and digital assets, however, regulation and jurisdiction, and investor protection have always been a massive issue, especially for regulated wealth managers and discretionary fund managers.”
The startup will make its submission with its first ten managers at the end of this month, with a view to launching in Q4 this year.
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Cigrek comes alive at a tricky time for the crypto sector.
Last week, Blockchain.com said it is cutting 25% of its workforce. About 150 jobs will go. Some 44% of the affected employees are in Argentina, 26% in the US, 16% in the UK and the rest in other countries.
It is a fluid situation around the world, and eWeek UK recently discussed the crypto winter here. For example, US cryptocurrency broker Voyager Digital has filed for bankruptcy protection, blaming the move on “volatility and contagion” in the markets. Crypto lending platform Celsius has also filed for bankruptcy in the US. While Coinbase faces an SEC probe over its crypto listings, which saw its shares drop by 21%.
The price of Bitcoin currently stands at £17,740, a fall of 36% over the last six months.
That said, Cigrek has its own aspirations. It wants to speak to fund managers and asset managers looking for EU-regulated exposure to crypto assets for their clients.
On its website, the company explains that it offers a Fintech Corporate Bond Programme. This focuses on creating corporate bonds to raise funds for a startup or business expansion.
Its fund services include migrating a non-EU fund to an EU domicile and setting up an EU segregated sub-fund in Luxembourg.
Cigrek seems to be in a confident mood and will participate in a crypto conference in Dubai in October 2022 as it seeks to promote its agenda.
