SC Ventures and SBI Holdings Form $100 Million Crypto Joint Venture in the UAE for Global Investments
Crypto News – SC Ventures, the investment arm of Standard Chartered Bank, has joined forces with SBI Holdings, a prominent Japanese financial conglomerate, to establish a crypto-focused joint venture worth $100 million in the United Arab Emirates.
This collaborative initiative, structured as a joint venture, has outlined its strategic vision to invest in various facets of the crypto landscape, including decentralized finance, tokenization, infrastructure, payments, and the metaverse. The partners aim to deploy their capital on a global scale, encompassing investment opportunities ranging from seed-stage startups to Series C funding rounds.
The announcement of this partnership coincides with a noticeable resurgence in the cryptocurrency markets, suggesting a resurgence of bullish sentiment. Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, is presently trading at approximately $36,800, representing a year-to-date appreciation of more than 120%. Furthermore, spot trading volumes for cryptocurrencies on centralized exchanges experienced a notable uptick in October after four consecutive months of decline. These metrics may be indicative of renewed interest in cryptocurrencies, potentially driven by anticipation of the approval of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) early next year.
Alex Manson, CEO of SC Ventures, emphasized that the joint venture between SC Ventures and SBI Holdings intends to engage in “strategic and minority investments” in promising crypto startups. Manson noted, “The Joint Venture will leverage SC Ventures’ extensive experience in digital assets, gained through our involvement in ventures such as Zodia Custody and Zodia Markets, as well as our investments in fintech companies like Ripple and Metaco.”
It is worth noting that SC Ventures divested its stake in Metaco in May when Ripple acquired the company for $250 million. Additionally, both SC Ventures and SBI Holdings have previously collaborated on investments in startups such as Solv, Zodia Custody, and myZoi.
In a parallel development, SBI Holdings is poised to launch a separate fund by the end of the year, targeting investments of up to 100 billion yen (approximately $663 million) in sectors encompassing web3 technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), and fintech startups. Notably, major Japanese financial institutions, including Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Mizuho Bank, Nippon Life Insurance, and Daiwa Securities Group, have already committed to investing more than 50 billion yen in this fund, according to reports by Nikkei.
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