French asset management company TOBAM has launched a bitcoin mutual fund – the first of its kind in Europe.

The TOBAM Bitcoin Fund is an unregulated Alternative Investment Fund, set up in France. It is available to eligible investors worldwide on a private placement basis.

The fund will allow qualified investors to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency in a convenient and safe vehicle. TOBAM believes that cryptocurrencies have the potential to become durable standards in financial and saving markets.

“Direct investment in Bitcoin can be operationally challenging, from dealing with the choice of the platform, to maintaining the proper security measures in terms of custody and to managing the changes made to the protocol – hard forks. Our goal is to take control of these operational challenges in order to facilitate access for qualified investors willing to gain exposure to Bitcoin. All of that under the format of a fund,” Christophe Roehri, Head of Business Development, said.

In its official release, TOBAM said that the fund integrates the management of potential forks as well as the mitigation of the risk of loss and theft, through a transparent and rigorous investment process. It will leverage research capabilities as well as its in-house computer power to implement fully integrated risk control and straight-through-processing investment systems. The investors will benefit from the company’s cutting-edge research and IT systems to track the value of investing in the Bitcoin.

The launch of the bitcoin fund comes at a time when bitcoin price is completely off the charts. It is currently trading around $8,200 levels and experts expect it to hit $10,000 by 2018.