Crypto investor ETC Group has passed $1 billion in assets under management (AuM) for the first time since April 2022.

ETC Group said its flagship ETC Group Physical Bitcoin now holds 25,863 bitcoins, a “record amount”.

“Seeing BTCE reach record BTC holdings and our total AuM surpass the $1 billion mark for the first time in over 18 months is a clear signal that this bear market is behind us,” said Tim Bevan, chief executive and founder at ETC Group. “This new cycle will be the one where institutions truly begin to participate globally and our ability to capture almost 50 per cent of all Crypto ETP fund inflows in Europe year to date is a testament to the quality of our products.”

ETC Group offers a range of crypto ETPs, including physical ETPs for Ethereum (ZETH) and Solana (ESOL), as well as a DA20, the “world’s first and only MSCI benchmarked crypto index ETP” and stated that in addition to Bitcoin, it has also witnessed increasing institutional interest in Ethereum.

“As institutions grow their internal capabilities and teams, we are seeing a deeper appreciation for the key differences between Bitcoin and Ethereum, which in our view are highly complementary assets and should form the cornerstone of any allocation to digital assets,” commented Bradley Duke, founder and chief strategy officer.

The news comes at a tumultuous time in the crypto space following the sentencing of FTX chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried and the dissolution of crypto exchange FTX, as well as the recent resignation of Binance chief executive Changpeng Zhao after pleading guilty to a Department of Justice investigation against it.

Bankman-Fried was convicted on all seven counts he faced after four hours of jury deliberations, with prosecutors successfully arguing that he maliciously defrauded FTX users of $8 billion before the company's collapse in November 2022.

Binance’s Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) by failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering programme, while Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, has agreed to pay over $4 billion to resolve the DoJ’s investigation into violations related to the BSA, failure to register as a money transmitting business, and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

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