Geneos Wealth Management, a hybrid broker/dealer and registered investment advisor with $10 billion in assets, has added Eaglebrook, which offers crypto-focused separately managed accounts, to its platform. The move will allow Geneos' 250 advisors access to Eaglebrook's Bitcoin and Ethereum SMAs, as well as the ability to build custom RIA-managed SMAs.
The news comes just two months later The Securities and Exchange Commission approved Bitcoin ETFs for the first time. Geneos has approved three Bitcoin ETFs for use on its platform, including the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF, the iShares Bitcoin Trust and the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, which invests in the future of Bitcoin. To invest in ETFs, Geneos advisors are required to take a continuing education course on the new products and must sign documentation indicating that they read the prospectuses.
Dean Rager, chief operating officer at Geneos, says the Eaglebrook partnership offers another option and benefits a client wouldn't get in an ETF, such as direct ownership of digital assets and automated tax loss harvesting.
“Finally, the SEC has approved ETFs for the masses,” said Dean Rager, chief operating officer at Geneos. “But there are still customers who might want to own the real deal. And that will allow us to have some ability to resolve some of those issues as opposed to sending them into the unknown.
“Clients can have a hand held when they enter this new asset class, as opposed to entering them alone,” said Rager.
Rager has been testing the Eaglebrook platform with his own account for about three years.
“I found it a very easy platform to use,” he said. “It's much safer than going out and trying to make your own tokens and wallets.”
He likes the fact that assets are held at Gemini, Eaglebrook's custodian, and that clients receive monthly statements just like any other brokerage account.
“Unlike customers who just go out and try to set up their Coinbase account or whatever, we have the ability to help them in a much more advice-friendly type of platform,” Rager said.
But Rager said it's still a new asset class, and Geneos currently has fewer than 15 advisers investing in cryptocurrency on behalf of clients. Customer interest comes from high-net-worth individuals with $20 million or more in investable assets, who can put $10,000 or $100,000 into crypto assets.
“It's irrelevant to their overall net worth, but they still want to control it, so to speak,” he said.
Eaglebrook, which counts among its clients Dynasty Financial Partners, Mariner Wealth Advisors and Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors, works with more than 700 advisors and has more than $210 million in assets under management, according to the firm.