Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. says its broker-dealer, MML Investors Services, has struck a deal to offer qualified investor clients access to a Bitcoin fund from NYDIG.
The news comes eight months after MassMutual invested $100 million in Bitcoin for its general investment fund and acquired a $5 million minority equity stake in NYDIG, a subsidiary of Stone Ridge that provides cryptocurrency services to institutions.
NYDIG, which handled some $2.3 billion in crypto-assets for clients in late 2020, also agreed to provide custody services for MassMutual's Bitcoins in December.
The insurance company views cryptocurrencies as investments that "are increasingly becoming part of the financial landscape," it said last week, and it's working on several programs involving the asset class for both its clients and financial professionals.
"As MassMutual explores ways to integrate cryptocurrency into different areas of its business, [broker-dealer] MMLIS saw a growing demand from our financial professionals and their clients to gain bitcoin exposure," according to Daken Vanderburg, head of Investments at MML Investors Services.
