Key Takeaways
- • Arquant Capital, a Paris-based crypto-asset adviser, became the first crypto specialist authorised as an asset management company by France's Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), ending a three-year approval process.
- • The authorisation lets Arquant offer investors access to actively managed specialised professional funds invested directly in digital assets.
- • Arquant said it planned to launch its first specialised professional fund, dedicated entirely to Ethereum, within days of the announcement.
- • Osborne Clarke advised Arquant, with regulatory partner Karima Lachgar leading the team on governance, operations, procedural matters and contract negotiation with service providers and clients.
- • The company framed the fund structure as a way to give professional investors digital asset exposure while managing volatility risk.
Summary
Arquant Capital, a Paris-based crypto-asset adviser, has been authorised as an asset management company by France's Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), making it the first crypto specialist to receive this status from the French financial regulator, according to The Global Legal Post. The approval ends a three-year application process and allows the firm to offer professional investors access to actively specialised funds invested directly in digital assets.
Arquant's co-founder and CEO, Eron Anglele, said the company had aimed from the outset to facilitate professional investor access to digital assets and to address volatility risk, which he described as the two main obstacles preventing these investors from diversifying portfolios into crypto-assets. The firm said it planned to launch its first specialised professional fund, dedicated entirely to the Ethereum blockchain platform, in the coming days.
Osborne Clarke advised Arquant on the bid. The team was led by regulatory partner Karima Lachgar, who handled governance, operations and procedural matters as well as contract negotiations with Arquant's service providers and clients. Tax partner Dorothée Chambon and employment partner Jérôme Scapoli also took part. Lachgar described the application as "a particularly innovative strategic structuring of the management offer and investment strategies," and credited the team's knowledge of asset management and crypto-asset sectors, along with its relationships with the AMF, in shaping the strategy. Lachgar joined Osborne Clarke last year from CMS's Paris practice and has experience with tokenisation platforms, payment marketplaces, blockchain and fintech companies in France and internationally.
The article places the development in the context of France's position as a leader in European crypto innovation, noting that the country has just become the first EU member state to grant the world's largest crypto exchange, Binance, regulatory approval. It also references other recent legal mandates in the sector: Norton Rose Fulbright advised Bybit on its entry into the UAE market and relocation of its global headquarters from Singapore to Dubai last month, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough advised Coincheck on its $1.3bn special purpose acquisition merger with Thunder Bridge Capital Partners in March.
Arquant's co-founder and CEO, Eron Anglele, said the company had aimed from the outset to facilitate professional investor access to digital assets and to address volatility risk, which he described as the two main obstacles preventing these investors from diversifying portfolios into crypto-assets. The firm said it planned to launch its first specialised professional fund, dedicated entirely to the Ethereum blockchain platform, in the coming days.
Osborne Clarke advised Arquant on the bid. The team was led by regulatory partner Karima Lachgar, who handled governance, operations and procedural matters as well as contract negotiations with Arquant's service providers and clients. Tax partner Dorothée Chambon and employment partner Jérôme Scapoli also took part. Lachgar described the application as "a particularly innovative strategic structuring of the management offer and investment strategies," and credited the team's knowledge of asset management and crypto-asset sectors, along with its relationships with the AMF, in shaping the strategy. Lachgar joined Osborne Clarke last year from CMS's Paris practice and has experience with tokenisation platforms, payment marketplaces, blockchain and fintech companies in France and internationally.
The article places the development in the context of France's position as a leader in European crypto innovation, noting that the country has just become the first EU member state to grant the world's largest crypto exchange, Binance, regulatory approval. It also references other recent legal mandates in the sector: Norton Rose Fulbright advised Bybit on its entry into the UAE market and relocation of its global headquarters from Singapore to Dubai last month, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough advised Coincheck on its $1.3bn special purpose acquisition merger with Thunder Bridge Capital Partners in March.
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