News of the Week

💰 Yale CIO Invests in Crypto Funds

David Swensen is making his first big bets on cryptocurrency following the recent swoon in the price of bitcoin and other digital currencies.

Swensen, who is chief investment officer of Yale University’s $29.4 billion endowment, has invested in two venture funds dedicated to cryptocurrency.

Swensen’s team invested in Andreessen Horowitz’s inaugural $300 million crypto fund, which closed in June. It also backed Paradigm, a new blockchain and cryptocurrency-focused fund started by Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam and former Sequoia Capital partner Matt Huang.

🤔 Roger Ver Considering Launching His Own Exchange

Digital-coin wallet provider Bitcoin.com plans to buy or develop its own exchange, according to Chief Executive Officer Roger Ver.

The early investor in Bitcoin said he’s considering finding a partner to produce the platform, or may “build one internally,” in an interview in Malta.

“If we build it ourselves, we can do it really, really cheap, and we get exactly what we want,” he said of the the firm’s early-stage plans. “But we don’t have the security of a battle-tested exchange that’s been around for a while.”

Ver said Bitcoin Cash would be the base-currency for the exchange.

😔 Coinbase to Close Index Fund

According to The Block, Cryptocurrency exchange and wallet service Coinbase is shutting down its index fund service due to a weak interest from investors since it launched “the S&P 500 index equivalent” of the crypto world earlier this year.

The initiative was part of the company’s recent move to target a more select group of high-stakes players and institutional investors. It provided them a way to track the performance of the crypto markets as a whole by holding a single crypto asset. And it leverages the fact that the index funds have consistently beaten the average managed fund since their inception.

😬 Bitfinex Suspends Fiat Deposits

The Block reported this week that major crypto exchange Bitfinex has temporarily suspended all fiat wire deposits for the Euro, U.S. Dollar, Japanese Yen and Pound Sterling.

The exchange has recently been prompted to officially respond to online rumours that claimed Bitfinex was insolvent and/or facing banking issues.

As part of its recent statement, the exchange acknowledged that “complications continue to exist” for Bitfinex “in the domain of fiat transactions,” but stated this is something prevalent among “most” crypto-related organizations.

🎓 Harvard, Stanford, MIT Endowments All Invest in Crypto Funds

Multiple Ivy League and other prestigious U.S. universities are said to have made investments into “at least” one cryptocurrency fund.

Citing an unnamed source, the Information reported that the multi-billion endowments of Harvard University, Stanford University, Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the University of North Carolina had all invested capital in the crypto space. This is “a sign of the asset class’ growing acceptance among institutional investors,” the source said.

💸 A New $100 Million VC Fund Joins the Crypto Fray

Called Dragonfly Capital Partners, the fund is the result of a partnership between one of Silicon Valley’s young crypto investor enthusiasts and one of China’s most experienced investors. Founders Alexander Pack and Bo Feng will look to invest in a mix of crypto-first funds, protocols and applications, as well as tech startups building infrastructure for crypto-driven economies.

Dragonfly’s founders are banking on Asia continuing to be one of the most, if not the single most, important markets for crypto use cases, especially in financial applications. They structured the fund to operate “unconstrained,” without the kinds of restrictions on what types of companies or coins to back that can limit larger, more established firms.

👍 Binance to Disclose All Listing Fees and Donate Proceeds to Charity

Binance announced this week that the company will make all listing fees transparent. In addition, 100% of fees will be donated to charity.

This comes just a few weeks after Binance launched Blockchain Charity Foundation together with the UN, led by UN Ambassador of Goodwill, Helen Hai.

The goal of the project is to help the UN tackle the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals funding gap. Currently, the UN is struggling to raise the $2.5 trillion needed to help developing countries reach their investment goals. The BCF was set up to explore the potential of blockchain technology to help with this.