Last week, the Hutchins family revealed launched a new crypto venture capital fund that has already raised $72 million from big names. The new North Island Ventures fund created by Glenn Hutchins, the cofounder of private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, has won backing from hedge fund titan Paul Tudor Jones, Apollo Global Management
The new fund, managed by Hutchins' son James and former Digital Currency Group investor Travis Scher, has been making VC investments in crypto and blockchain projects since last year. North Island has invested in Dapper Labs, the startup behind the new Flow blockchain, carbon credit tracking platform Nori, and blockchain interoperability app Axelar. Scher said people across myriad industries are curious about investment opportunities based on blockchain technology.
Here is the rest of the week in review:
Bill Miller said the Miller Value Funds he manages may start investing in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust
Run by veteran hedge fund manager and Bitcoin bull Bill Miller and Samantha McLemore, the Miller Opportunity Trust had assets under management of $2.25 billion as of December 31, 2020, making its potential maximum investment in Grayscale $337 million. The move came days after Miller's son Bill Miller IV wrote in a letter to investors in another Miller fund that participating in MicroStrategy's
Dan Tapiero, a macro investor and gold and crypto bull, launched a new $200 million fund aimed at investing in mid- to late-stage companies in the digital asset ecosystem. Taperio and his 10T Holdings partners notified the SEC that 10T intends to create a $200 million growth equity fund to invest in crypto and blockchain firms. The filing shows the fund has already raised $124 million of the goal, since its first sale on January 29. Tapiero discussed his vision of the investment fund on Anthony Pompliano's podcast in November, noting he and "a bunch of partners" were buying private equity stakes in mid- to late-stage firms associated with digital assets. He specifically mentioned crypto exchange Kraken, fintech firm Figure Technologies, and stablecoin issuer Paxos as potential targets for investment. Tapiero is known for cofounding Gold Bullion International in 2009 and speaking about digital assets.
Crypto prices climbed to $1.156 trillion this week, partly helped by Ether's (ETH) record high. For the majors, Cardano (ADA), Binance Coin (BNB), and Dogecoin (DOGE) surged, while XRP fell. In the top 100, the biggest losers were Voyager Token (VGX), down 24%, HedgTrade (HEDG), down 19%, and XRP, down 10%. The biggest gainers were UMA, up a whopping 156%, Dogecoin, up 124%, and 0x (ZRX), up 101%. Next week traders will watch if Bitcoin can notch another all-time high above $42,000.
The author owns a small amount of BTC.
- 1. https://www.coindesk.com/72m-crypto-fund-backed-by-paul-tudor-jones-and-ll-cool-j-comes-out-of-stealth
- 2. https://www.coindesk.com/bill-miller-run-2-25b-fund-may-buy-gbtc-to-gain-bitcoin-exposure-of-up-to-15
- 3. https://cointelegraph.com/news/dan-tapiero-launches-200m-investment-fund-for-late-stage-crypto-firms