Andreessen Horowitz has decided to put $300 million into a cryptocurrency fund, which is a massive amount of money to be invested by a single investor. This kind of investment activity is inspiring as it is expected to have a positive effect on other investors who want to put more substantial sums of money into the market, and this, in turn, could spark a serious upturn sometime in the near future.
This Silicon Valley, USA, company has started this new fund, which will be named A16Z. The fund will feature the former federal prosecutor and assistant US Attorney Catherine Horn as one of the co-leaders as Horn has been named the firm’s latest General Partner.
This investment firm will also be looking to greatly expand their scope of activities in the crypto space. This is not surprising given the vast amount of money they have continued to put into projects built around use cases.
Andreessen Horowitz has also invested in a bunch of notable start-ups including cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and has been very successful with their past investments. Coinbase has been one of the largest exchanges for cryptocurrency ever seen, making it easier than ever to purchase coins. It also has been very influential over the amount of investment coming from the average person, and institutional investments will undoubtedly increase as they open up their institutional products.
AH General Partner, Mr. C. Dickson, recently hinted that the crypto fund would take a decidedly long tack regarding their investment activities because they have been investing in crypto assets for 5+ years, and have never sold any of those investments. One can imagine the price of cryptocurrencies five years ago, compared to the price now, would have gained them considerable wealth, and they are betting that if they continue to hold their coins for another five years that the value will increase exponentially.
They structured the A16Z product to be able to hold investments for over ten years, and it will be exciting to see how that turns out. Considering that they have seen at least a 100 to 10000 percent increase in the value of the cryptocurrency that they have held for the past five years, the thought of how much can be made holding assets for 10+ years has to be a very enticing reason for investment into this new fund.
Offering a hint at the fund’s overall thesis Dickson said that A16Z would focus its efforts on projects with underlying practical use cases, and that is what they want to push it towards. They want to help the development of cryptocurrency and the blockchain, as well as make a ton of money on their investments for themselves.
Another thing indicating that there will soon be a significant influx of money into the crypto space is ING saying that Bitcoin interest will double. They get this idea from their last consumer economic report, which indicated that less than 1 in 10 Europeans currently own any cryptocurrency assets, but 16% of them expect to own them in the very near future. This survey had a response rate of about 15,000 from all over Europe. The Dutch financial institution believes the study reflects a gradual change in attitude toward cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple, which is also why they think that interest will soon double.
One of the most surprising findings from this survey was that 15% of respondents said that they would consider receiving their salaries in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies despite the notorious volatility of the markets. So, if 16% expect to own cryptocurrency in the future, and 15% wouldn’t mind getting paid using crypto, makes for a great new development for the space that promises to pull a large amount of money in.
Considering that only a year ago most people would not have considered getting their salaries using cryptocurrency, the change in attitude has come very rapidly and is only expected to spread even more throughout the world as time wears on. This statistic is very bullish and should hearten anyone wanting to invest in cryptocurrency.
Another company that will be putting some serious money into cryptocurrency is Robinhood, as they go for the kill against other exchanges like Coinbase and disrupting things further by offering their own wallet to back up their commission-free cryptocurrency trading. This will allow investors to move their cryptocurrency from other wallets into the platform without having to sell first, and that will make things a whole lot more convenient and attractive for those who want to invest in their coins.
Robinhood is also looking to improve their cryptocurrency products and the functionality for their wallet. Hopefully, this will open up their coins to different countries and different states in America, which will bring in a lot more people, and a lot more investment in their product.
Another large dump of money coming into cryptocurrency is in the case of Bitpanda, who is also making considerable developments in the right direction to expand their product as well. What they are doing is working with the Austrian postal system, and setting it up so that people can buy different cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin and Ethereum among them) right there at the post office. This means that over 400 post office, and 1300 partner branches throughout Austria, will have this service available using prepaid cryptocurrency tickets you can buy over the counter, and that will make it extremely easy for the Austrian people to invest in crypto without even having to log in to do it.
One can see the potential in this, especially if it catches on and other countries start to offer similar services in their post offices, or other common places frequented by the many.
So those are some things happening right now that will be bringing millions of dollars into cryptocurrency in the near future, and for those who have invested, or want to invest, in cryptocurrency but have been a little scared off by the recent downturn take note. Cryptocurrency are not going anywhere, and while the market volatility sometimes makes the head spin it is easy to see that the massive investment in blockchain technology in general, and cryptocurrency in particular, will continue to grow and expand the markets while bringing with it great opportunities for those willing to take the time to implement the best cryptocurrency trading strategy and the willingness to get in now while the market is still cool.