MassMutual indie broker-dealer to offer Bitcoin fund to clients

Financial advisers at MML Investors Services, the broker-dealer arm of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., will have access to a Bitcoin fund, the company said Wednesday in a statement.

MML Investors Services has entered into a placement agent agreement with NYDIG, a provider of technology and investment solutions that focuses on Bitcoin, according to a Wednesday statement from the company.

It's not clear when MML advisers will begin to be able to sell the Bitcoin fund to clients, and a spokesperson for MassMutual said the company would not disclose the name of the Bitcoin fund.

NYDIG is a subsidiary of alternative asset manager Stone Ridge that specializes in Bitcoin-related technology for the financial services industry.

“This offering with NYDIG is yet another step to continue to expand our product shelf with the goal of ensuring our financial professionals and clients have the tools they need to continue to build broadly diversified portfolios,” Daken Vanderburg, head of investments at the broker-dealer, said in the statement.

MassMutual bought a minority stake in NYDIG last year.

MML Investors Services, with more than 8,000 financial advisers in 2019, according to InvestmentNews data, appears to be among the first broker-dealers to allow financial advisers to sell Bitcoin. Morgan Stanley said over the winter that it was giving its financial advisers access to three different funds that will enable ownership of Bitcoin.

One of those funds was a partnership between FS Investments and NYDIG. FS Investments, a large investment manager that focuses on alternative investments, has deep ties with independent broker-dealers like MML Investors Services.