Latest crypto news: Eight Roads, a VC backed by financial giant Fidelity, has hired former CEO of Coinbase Japan Nao Kitazawa, demonstrating an openness to crypto-themed operations and investments.
More and more private investment funds are taking an interest in startups operating in the blockchain and Web3 sectors, driven by the inherent potential of these new technologies.
Let’s take a look at all the details together.
Summary
Fidelity’s appetite for crypto investments: hiring former CEO of Coinbase Japan
Eight Roads, an investment subsidiary of multinational financial firm Fidelity, announced yesterday that it has hired Nao Kitazawa, former CEO of Coinbase Japan, as a venture partner.
The Fidelity subsidiary, which manages assets worth more than $11 billion, has already invested in companies operating in the web3 sector such as Fireblocks and Kaiko.
However, it mainly invests in the traditional markets of Asia, Europe and the United States. Last year it launched a 350 million tech investment fund for China and a health care and life sciences fund for India
Following the introduction of Kitazawa, one of Japan’s most respected figures in the crypto industry, Eight Roads is poised to connect even more with startups in the crypto world.
The former executive, who left Coinbase in February this year because the exchange was exiting the Japanese market, said he accepted the invitation from Fidelity’s investment firm to pursue his love of fintech and Web3.
He continued in his speech by quoting verbatim:
“It’s an honor to be a part of a firm with a successful track record of backing some of the world’s most innovative and disruptive companies.”
At this point Fidelity, a multinational financial services company, has expanded its presence in the crypto industry even further, hinting that it will continue to invest heavily.
According to some rumors, the behemoth with $4.5 billion in assets under management is forming a cryptocurrency investment research group, aware that the sector could explode to the upside in the next two years.
Earlier this week, another cryptocurrency arm of the company, EDX Markets, announced that it was setting up operations in the United States despite uncertain regulations and less-than-optimal market conditions.
Another Fidelity subsidiary earlier this year launched a fee-free cryptocurrency exchange platform, allowing users to exchange between fiat, Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Venture Capital in the crypto sector
Venture capitals represent investment funds that operate through high-risk transactions, financing early-stage companies that have a high margin for growth.
In recent years, the presence of VCs has spread heavily within the crypto industry precisely because of the high potential for return on investment in crypto projects.
As the cryptocurrency industry itself is still at a premature stage of adoption in the world, it is obvious that these investment funds, while taking huge risks, could heavily multiply their initial stake.
It is worth mentioning that a high presence of VC investment funds in the crypto market fosters the emergence of a myriad of projects and as a result the processes of growth and innovation are accelerated, but at the same time more speculation is being generated than already exists.
In fact, all of these companies have economic profit as their sole and pure purpose, and they invest with the idea that they can liquidate their positions within a few years, unlike the ideology of holders who aim to preserve their assets over the long term.
In any case, several directors believe strongly in the future of this industry, which is growing more innovative every year, while others are just trying to exploit momentary speculation to bring gains to society.
In this regard, a few days ago Chris Burniske, partner at VC Placeholder, shared his idea about the future of the crypto industry, predicting that amid the uncertainty and skepticism of more conservative investors, the sector will grow to 100 times its current size.
Despite the bullish outlook of some private fund managers, as of Q4 2021 we have seen a sharp decrease in funding from these companies, yet they remain above the numbers recorded during 2020 and previous years.
Among the most active VCs with the most capital allocated to crypto assets, we find a whopping 19 funds managing assets worth more than $1 billion.
First on the list is A16Z, the undisputed leader in this context, followed by Binance Labs, Multicoin, Pantera, Paradigm and Blockchain Capital.
In this document, you can browse the top 300 ventures funds for crypto investments in real time, with details regarding the size, number of operations carried out, where they are located and their website.
