What’s Going On?
High-profile hedge fund trader and Bitcoin evangelist Mike Novogratz is investing $15 million in blockchain startup AlphaPoint.
Why Does It Matter?
The new round of funding – which is to be delivered via Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital Ventures investment company – will be used to build on AlphaPoint’s global growth.
Bloomberg reported the New York-based company has also attracted investment from Blockchain Capital. In April, the firm said it was partnering on a digital gold trading platform with the UK’s Royal Mint and CME Group Inc.
What’s Changing?
AlphaPoint aims to simplify the way assets are issued on a blockchain, reported Forbes, essentially offering customers the technology used to create crypto exchanges. Launched in 2013, the company says its white label technology is already used in 30 countries around the world.
“We are in the early stages of a fundamental transformation in financial markets due to the digitisation of assets,” said Novogratz in an official announcement. “This transformation started with currencies, but is now changing the way we look at commodities, real estate, art, and other traditional and emerging asset classes.”
Former Wall Street trader Novogratz is working on turning Galaxy Digital into what he’s called an institutional-quality merchant banking business in cryptocurrency and blockchain, reported Bloomberg. He has previously laid out a plan to raise $191 million and has said he wants to build the “Drexel of crypto”.