EU Splurges $30 Million on New Crypto and Blockchain Fund
The cryptocurrency and blockchain sector seem to have caught the fancy of the EU. This newfound interest has led the global organization through one of its agencies, European Investment Fund (EIF), to commit $30 million to a new cryptocurrency and blockchain venture. The EIF is an arm of the Union that plays the role of SME financing.
This move by the EU has come at a time when industry stakeholders have lamented the absence of many Europe-based tech firms, unlike the US and Asian giant, China. As such, the EU plans to change this narrative with the latest $30 million funding being a step in that direction. Both sectors are considered by experts to be of ‘strategic importance’ to the organization.
The beneficiary of the EIF’s gesture is a firm called Fabric Ventures, a Luxembourg-based VC Fund, that forays into projects such as DApps, tokenization and . However, the funding from the EIF is a quarter of an estimated Fund for this year.
PayPal, Google and Other Big Players Involved in Funding
According to reports, the rest of the total Fund amount was shared by other big players in the industry. The Fund saw contributions from Ethereum’s executives, payment service giant Paypal, (Transfer) Wise, Galaxy Digital, Square and a host of other investors. Of all the contributions, the EIF’s participation drew more attention as it is an indication that the European region is warming up to fintech projects.
Fabric Ventures was set up by individuals with professional industry experience. The team behind the fund include Richard Muirhead, Max Mersch and Anil Hansjee who worked at PayPal for sometime, while overseeing the firm’s markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Other projects founded by the trio include Firestartr Fund, of which crypto exchange Bitstamp was one of the major investors; Tray.io, Railsbank and a number of other interesting projects.
Fabric Ventures Speculates on a $1 Trillion Combined Market Cap for BTC and Ethereum
Richard Muirhead stated the importance of the EIF’s role, saying it signified a realization that the tech industry bears many positive implications for the EU location-wise. Beyond that, Fabric Ventures believes that the combined market cap of BTC and ETH will get to $1 trillion, if the sector continues to see entry of institutional investors like Grayscale, PayPal.
Meanwhile, on the sidelines, the EU is considering monitoring cryptocurrency transactions, according to a recent report. It claimed that this was necessary to forestall issues relating to illegal activities. As such, it has drafted a bill that calls for the de-anonymity of cryptocurrency transactions, where parties’ details will be known and not shrouded in anonymity. On digital currencies, the European Central Bank’s plan on a CBDC (Digital Euro) is still in progress.
Tokenhell produces content exposure for over 5,000 crypto companies and you can be one of them too! Contact at info@tokenhell.com if you have any questions. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Some of the posts on this website are guest posts or paid posts that are not written by Tokenhell authors (namely Crypto Cable , Sponsored Articles and Press Release content) and the views expressed in these types of posts do not reflect the views of this website. Tokenhell is not responsible for the content, accuracy, quality, advertising, products or any other content or banners (ad space) posted on the site. Read full terms and conditions / disclaimer.