The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), with KPMG and leading digital asset investors and industry experts has added to its wide-ranging sound practice toolkit with the publication of a new industry guide on digital asset trading for institutional investors.
Jack Inglis, CEO at AIMA, said: “AIMA’s role within the digital asset market is to facilitate and encourage the adoption of sound practices that will improve market maturation and stability. This latest guide from AIMA DAWG will do just this as part of our wide-ranging toolkit of resources for alternative investment industry participants.”
As a follow up to last year’s AIMA industry guide on digital asset custody and the recent publication of a new set of AIMA due diligence questionnaires for digital asset investment managers, this latest industry guide on digital asset trading aims to further support the institutionalisation of this nascent asset class.
The guide aims to provide an overview of the digital asset trading ecosystem and lifecycle, as well as highlight some key enterprise risks and due diligence considerations for institutional investors determining whether and how to trade digital assets.
For those looking to expand or diversify their investments in digital assets, AIMA’s new guide will contribute to its growing body of digital asset related industry resources, which are relatively scarce compared to sound practice literature for traditional finance.
Co-sponsored by KPMG, the guide was produced with contributions from Albourne Partners, Anchorage Digital, Bittrex Global, BlockFills, Coinbase, CoinRoutes, Copper, Dagger Consulting, Finery Markets, GSR, Kroll, Lenz & Staehelin, RSM, Simmons & Simmons and Trovio Group.
The guide is the initiative of AIMA’s Digital Assets Working Group (AIMA DAWG) – a cross section of senior industry experts including managers, allocators and service providers.
It is tasked with driving AIMA’s regulatory engagement, thought-leadership initiatives and operational guidance in the area of digital assets.
Kareem Sadek, Partner, Advisory, Cryptoassets & Blockchain Co-leader and Emerging Tech Risk leader at KPMG in Canada, said: “As institutional investors increasingly look to digital assets as an alternative investment class, it is crucial that they have access to reliable and comprehensive resources to inform their investment decisions.”
“This latest industry guide on digital asset trading provides just that, offering a thorough overview of the market and its key players, as well as highlighting the enterprise risks and due diligence considerations that institutional investors should be aware of. By providing this valuable resource, we are helping to foster the institutionalization of the digital asset market, and enabling investors to navigate this rapidly evolving space with confidence,” he said.
Jacob Prudhomme, Director, Financial Services Risk, Regulatory & Compliance KPMG in the US, added: “Recent events have made it clear that virtually every corner of the crypto-financial ecosystem could benefit from improved risk management. This improvement would be impossible without well-informed market participants, so our objective in shaping this trading guide was to educate and inform by sharing the KPMG perspective on risks inherent to all financial assets as well as those risks specific to digital asset trading. Our hope is this guide is a useful starting point for firms in this space looking to build or enhance their risk management practices.”
