Word on the street: VC looks beyond downturn for returns

A Hong Kong-based venture capital firm is placing a major bet that tZero, a security token exchange owned by e-commerce company Overstock, will be the future of tokenization.

On Friday it was confirmed that GSR Capital, which also has offices in Beijing and Silicon Valley, has entered into an agreement to purchase $160 million worth of tZero security tokens. The ERC20 tokens are revenue backed and entitle investors to 10% of TZero’s revenue, paid in a form similar to a dividend.

TZero’s ICO is regulated by the US regulator SEC and the offering, which has $328m committed by investors, will continue until August despite having already raised more than the $250m they anticipated.

Security tokens represent a huge opportunity for the crypto markets to mature and expand beyond the regulatory grey area that utility tokens are restricted by.

Commenting on the news, Overstock CEO and tZero Executive Chairman Patrick Byrne said:

“Years ago we saw the world-shaking potential of blockchain, and since then we have been methodical in building tZERO into a company that will bring great efficiency and transparency to capital markets domestically and abroad. I truly believe what we are doing is historic and, while there is still much to be done, our success in this STO [security token offering] has given us the resources we need to see it through."

 Andreesen Horowitz launches crypto fund

The programming prodigy behind 90s web browser Netscape Marc Andreessen has invested billions into tech startups through his venture capital fund, A16Z over the years: AirBnB, Uber, Facebook, and Coinbase among them.

This week, A16Z officially announced the formation of a $300m fund targeted at the crypto market with a long-term investment horizon. Chris Dixion, general partner at A16Z described their approach as an "All weather" strategy, referring to the portfolio style made famous by Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s biggest hedge fund, Bridgewater, which aims for returns in good and bad times.

This is yet another crypto fund established by a prestigious investment firm amidst a long downtrend across the cryptocurrency markets. In March, Wall Street hedge fund Morgan Creek Capital announced it was raising funds for a $500m blockchain venture fund, which would make it the largest managed pure crypto play out there.

Interestingly, A16Z chose Kathryn Haun, a former prosecutor with crypto enforcement experience, as general partner,

Major Indian bank to use Ripple for remittances

Despite the stifling climate that regulators have created for cryptocurrencies in India, Kotak Mahindra, a major Indian private bank, has been announced as the latest financial institution to join RippleNet, Ripple’s enterprise blockchain network to enable inward remittances.

Kotak will use Ripple’s enterprise blockchain software, xCurrent to enable tracking of instant payments and settlements over RippleNet, the company’s enterprise blockchain network. Neither of the solutions utilize Ripple’s XRP currency, which powers a separate product in xRapid.

Kotak expects to cut the average time to settle international money transfers down to minutes instead of several days. The bank’s retail users can also remit smaller sums of money frequently at lower rates, the bank confirmed.

Economist: Bitcoin "a buy under $5k"

Allianz Bank’s chief economist Mohamed El Erian has suggested that the price of "digital gold" is going through a healthy correction and would be a buy under $5,000. El Erian has commented on the bubble nature of bitcoin and said back in December that it was priced at triple its true value.

Allianz is one of the world’s biggest insurers and financial service providers.

Venture capital provided some solace as the market downturn continues.