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Cryptocurrencies are an emerging asset class, so it makes the most sense to invest in the entire ecosystem “in a very diversified way.” This opinion was expressed by billionaire Alan Howard in an interview with The Block.
“You have to be in the crypto world and have an understanding of it to understand what’s going on there, identify the challenges and opportunities you’re going to face, and know what infrastructure will have to be built to deal with them,” he noted.
The billionaire confirmed that he is still “actively involved” in various initiatives of BH Digital, a division part of the hedge fund Brevan Howard Asset Management. The structure was launched in September 2021 and at the time of writing, assets under its management have exceeded $ 1 billion, according to the publication.
“BH Digital reflects my belief in the importance of investing in the entire ecosystem, regardless of the instrument (e.g. token, equity, NFT, etc.), in a diversified way with good risk management. This ensures that the flow of your income will never depend on just one strategy, topic or person taking the risk, “the billionaire explained.
As target segments for investments, Howard called stablecoins, games and metaverses, DeFi, smart contract security, trading platforms and internetwork tools. According to him, in the future, BH Digital will deploy market making capabilities to support new tokens, providing “initial liquidity”.
“We believe that our 20-year history and legacy as an active participant in derivatives trading gives us a huge advantage in investing in DeFi,” Howard said.
He noted that in the cryptocurrency market, venture capital investment and liquid trading “should be considered as parts of the same universe.”
Howard added that BH Digital is serious about participating in the community and is providing portfolio companies with the help they need.
In particular, we are talking about the research incubator Web N Group. It is focused on grassroots projects and offers emerging crypto entrepreneurs development support and legal advice to scale their ideas.
Another direction is Elwood Technologies. The firm has developed a platform focused on institutional investors to access the digital asset market – from connecting to various trading platforms through API to execution, reporting and analytics.
“Elwood is designed to meet the market’s urgent need for institutional-level infrastructure. […]. Cryptocurrency infrastructure has been (and still is) largely focused on the needs of retail traders. […] I wanted it to make it easier for institutions to enter the digital asset space,” Howard said.
Earlier, Elwood Technologies agreed with Bloomberg on “strategic integration” into the order management system of the news agency and raised $ 70 million from Goldman Sachs, Barclays and others.
Currently, Elwood’s client base includes more than 30 clients, including fintech firms and neobanks, asset managers, hedge funds and crypto exchanges.
Recall that Alan Howard participated in the funding rounds of the custodial service Komainu, its competitor Copper, the micropayment service Bottlepay, the hedge fund One River Digital.
In March 2022, Brevan Howard led a $7.5 million Series A funding round for Nested’s DeFi platform.
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