What is ASTRO

Astronaut Capital is a closed end crypto fund with a main focus on ICO investments, paying 50% dividend quarterly based on realized profit.

ASTRO is a managed crypto fund utilizing the expertise of Picolo Research. (based on the investment principles of the mother company Piccolo Capital Corp) . Astronauts mandate is specifically geared towards gaining exposure to undervalued ICOs with a view to liquidate on a 3–12 month basis.

Since the ICO market has dropped significant during 2018 ASTRO is also looking for other ways to make the fund work. More mid and long term trading in undervalued and highly liquid altcoins and BTC.

• 50% of ‘realised’ profits via Astronaut investment activities will be credited back to the token holder in ETH on a quarterly basis. ‘Realised’ profit is calculated by the difference between fund size at the beginning and end of a quarter minus the illiquid tokens (displayed as TUSD in portfolio).

• 40% of the profit will be reinvested into Astronaut, therefore expanding assets under management (AUM) and appreciating the token price of ASTRO.

• 10% of the profit each quarter will be used to fund the ongoing operation of Astronaut and its investment activities (legal, auditing, analysis). This management fee will only be taken if the fund passes the high watermark.

Would you have done better investing in the big crypto coins instead of buying ASTRO?
Table below gives an overview if you had the choice to invest $1000 at the ICO ending or any given day.

2019-03-08 A huge relief this week with the statement made by Astro CEO Matthew Dibb. Since the first loss in Q1 2018 a high watermark was mentioned. In later reports it became ambiguous if this high watermark only applies for management fees or also for dividends. Discussion on TG had led to a general consensus it only applies for fees. But it was never confirmed or denied by the team until this week: Matthew “dividends will be measured on a quarterly basis, and not via a High Watermark model. “

This is a huge difference with what I believed. I was under the impression the fund need to exceed high watermark before we could expect dividend again. With a high watermark of $3,955,180.22 and a fund size only $1,717,655.77 the fund needs to more than double before dividends. This could take a few years! But with this statement last week it makes Astro a way better investment. Especially when tokens are traded below nav as it is at the moment this was written.

Although I see little hope for a ICO hopping strategy. The stupendous days late 2017 are over and I think we will never see that again. This does not mean the ICO market is completely dead, good new projects will emerge but there wont be many and it might take a while before profit could be made from these investments. Astro is moving forward and continues looking how to invest the fund in other ways like more mid and long term trading.

The large part of illiquid tokens is a concern on short time view, but longer term there will be a moment most holdings good get liquidized hopefully with a profit.