Nickel Digital Asset Management (Nickel) has launched a new crypto-asset product designed to capture the expansion of the broader digital assets market outside of Bitcoin.

The Digital Leaders Altcoin Fund is the fourth strategy unveiled by the investment manager following its foundation approximately two years ago.

The announcement follows the launch of the market-neutral Digital Asset Arbitrage Fund, which has delivered positive returns every month since inception in June 2019, alongside two subsequent strategies: the Digital Gold Institutional Fund and Digital Factors Fund.

The firm, which aims to connect traditional finance with the digital assets market, has seen its assets under management increase three times in value over the last six months. It now manages over $150 million of assets.

Anatoly Crachilov, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nickel, said: “The market in which we are investing resembles a '1996 moment' ie. the early days of the Internet, the full potential of which is to become evident only years later. Those investors that are able to take a constructive longer-term view are in position to capture the value of these emerging trends.”

Commenting on the firm’s wider strategy, he explained: “Whilst Bitcoin has solidified its leadership position as a store of value, Ethereum and other programmable protocols represent a very distinct growth opportunity. It is a highly innovative and fast-moving space. Undoubtedly, there will be winners and losers in this market. However, similarly to Google’s valuation expanding from $75 million at their first financing round in 1999 to $1.4 trillion today, an appreciation of over 18,000 times, capturing early winners does offer significant appreciation upside. Nickel Digital is deploying a research-heavy approach to identify protocols well positioned to lead the race.”