Founders Fund, the venture capital firm co-founded by angel investor Peter Thiel, participated in an early-stage funding round for Tagomi, a crypto startup that aims to be a broker-dealer for large clients looking for block trades in cryptocurrencies.
Tagomi raised $15.5 million in the funding round, though the amount of investment made by the PayPal co-founder’s VC firm remains unknown, the Wall Street Journal reported.
An SEC filing reportedly showed Napoleon Ta, a Founders Fund partner, as one of Tagomi’s directors.
The startup was co-founded by Greg Tusar, a former Goldman Sachs executive who headed the firm’s electronic trading division. Recently, several executives from Wall Street banks have moved to crypto startups.
The firm aims to automatically bring together large orders from crypto exchanges and over-the-counter markets as well as from dark pools reserved for big investors.
Recent reports suggest that institutions and big investors are exploring entry into the cryptocurrency market.
While Wall Street majors such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are moving ahead with plans to set up crypto trading operations, others such as billionaire investors such as George Soros and the Rockefeller family are also mulling investments in cryptocurrency and blockchain.
Thiel, known for his early bets on Facebook and SpaceX, reportedly began investing in Bitcoin since 2012. Though his exact investment in Bitcoin is unknown to the public, the move is true to his reputation of betting early in nascent technology.
Founders Fund, with assets of more than $3 billion, has also invested in bitcoin infrastructure providers such as BitPay, BitGo, Polychain and MetaStable.
Though Thiel has voiced support for bitcoin, he remains skeptical of other crytpocurrencies.
In October last year, Thiel had said people are “underestimating” the value of bitcoin. He said the top cryptocurrency has great potential if it ends up being the cyber equivalent of gold.
by Jyotsna V
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