Baku, Azerbaijan, October 1
By Azad Hasanli - Trend:
The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) doesn’t plan to invest in cryptocurrencies in the near future, the SOFAZ told Trend.
The Fund invests in accordance with the “Rules for the Management of Currency Assets” and its investment policy, which defines the types of assets provided for capital investments. The current investment policy of SOFAZ, just like most institutional investors, doesn’t allow investments in cryptocurrencies.
“At this stage, the Fund considers the cryptocurrency market to be very volatile and risky,” SOFAZ said. “Moreover, significant work should be done in terms of creating a regulatory structure of the cryptocurrency market in order to increase the confidence of investors and society.”
Cryptocurrencies began to skyrocket in prices in the middle of last year. The peak accounted for December 2017, when one Bitcoin (the most popular cryptocurrency in the world) cost almost $20,000. Despite that experts predicted a further rise in prices for cryptocurrencies, their cost began to plummet, and now, for example, Bitcoin costs about $6,500.
Nevertheless, in the wake of the popularity of cryptocurrencies, specialized investment funds appeared. In April this year, the world’s first hybrid investment fund, BITREAL Capital, using cryptocurrency and real estate as the main instruments, appeared.
The State Oil Fund was established in 1999, and at that time its assets amounted to $271 million.
In the first half of 2018, the SOFAZ’s assets have increased by 6.22 percent compared to the beginning of this year ($35.806 billion), amounting to $38.036 billion.
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