Germany is quickly becoming a hotbed for crypto investments, with asset manager Union Investment set to add Bitcoin to its portfolio

The company first ventured into Bitcoin in early 2021. It added delta-one certificates that track the value of the largest cryptocurrency to one of its mixed investment funds (PrivatFonds Flexibel Pro). At the same time, the company is also considering adding Bitcoin exposure to funds for a small number of private investors, up to 1% to 2%.

Portfolio manager Daniel Bathe said the new investment strategy could begin in the fourth quarter, but there is no exact date yet.

Union Investment is the investment arm of DZ Bank Group, which owns more than 800 partner banks. As of June 30, Union Investment managed $507 billion in assets, making it one of the largest asset managers in Germany.

Germany is quickly becoming a hotbed for crypto investments, especially among institutional investors. On August 2, a new law allowing institutional funds to hold cryptocurrencies came into effect, laying the foundation for wider adoption of digital assets. Meanwhile, German securities brokerage firm S Broker recently announced a series of crypto-focused products.

According to a recent survey by Finder, Germans do not rank highly in terms of cryptocurrency adoption at the retail level. The survey of 42,000 people estimated that only 11% of Germans have been exposed to digital assets. While this number is higher than the United States and the United Kingdom, it ranks well below emerging markets and other European countries.