RIT Capital Partners, the investment trust founded by Jacob Rothschild,
is co-leading a funding round for crypto investment platform Aspen Digital
intended to finance the creation of an online platform that would give wealthy
investors a single portal to manage crypto investments.
RIT will lead the $8.8 million fundraising round for Hong Kong-based
Aspen Digital, along with Liberty City Ventures, an early venture investor in
the blockchain industry, Aspen said in a statement on Wednesday.
This will fund the launch of the platform and its expansion to London,
Yang He, co-founder and chief executive of Aspen Digital, told Reuters.
Other investors include Chatchaval Jiaravanon and Chaval Jiaravanon -
members of Thailand's richest family and owners of Fortune magazine.
Aspen will target family offices and asset managers in Europe, Asia and
the Middle East who want to have a single portal from which they can build a
diversified crypto portfolio. It expects to go live later this year.
"To have the oldest wealth management family in the world putting trust in us as a platform solution for the new world of crypto investment is a great validation," said Yang.
Investor enthusiasm for crypto has increased sharply over the past year,
with one study showing seven out of 10 institutional investors expect to invest
in or buy digital assets in the future.
London-listed RIT has invested in other crypto-related companies
recently, such as U.S. crypto exchange Kraken. Jacob Rothschild remains the
largest RIT shareholder with a 12.39% stake.
Aspen Digital aims to provide family offices and other wealth managers
with a crypto investment portal which will take care of compliance procedures
and bear the counterparty risk.
Aspen will focus on three areas: it will allow investors to buy and hold
cryptocurrency, will invest in yield-generating products such as
stablecoin-backed savings accounts, and will offer automated strategies
comparable to quant strategies employed by many hedge funds.
It will also have a research arm aggregating news in the sector and
market insights, and would present this to clients so they can see what it
could mean for their portfolios.
Emil Woods, founding partner of Liberty City Ventures, said: “We are
thrilled to partner with one of the finest technical and business-savvy teams
in blockchain and crypto."
RIT declined comment.
($1 = 0.7178 pounds)
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