Key takeaways:
- SkyBridge Capital is looking for approval from the SEC for a crypto-focused ETF
- Skybridge is betting on the long-term success of crypto, having $700 million of crypto assets under management
- The alternative investment company has raised $100 million for the recently launched Algorand fund
This year’s SALT Conference, which routinely attracts the biggest names from Wall Street, was hosted by SkyBridge founder and former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci. At the marquee event, Scaramucci unveiled that SkyBridge Capital has over $700 million worth of cryptocurrency assets under management and that the company put $100 million towards the new Algorand fund. Skybridge has filed for a crypto-centric ETF with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on September 14.
Scaramucci: “Crypto is here to stay”
In an interview with CNBC, SkyBridge founder implored regulators to act with urgency in regards to new cryptocurrency legislation. Scaramucci likened crypto to Uber as another example of a recently emerged business model that “the regulators wanted to knock out of business,” but to no avail, since the people wanted to use it. Scaramucci is convinced that “Before long, there will be 200 million [cryptocurrency] users in the US.”
Given these comments, it comes as no surprise that the alternative investment company helmed by Scaramucci has recently filed for an exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the SEC. According to the filing, the fund is designed to gain cryptocurrency exposure via the industry’s leading companies instead of directly investing in digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The most recent development on the US crypto ETF front was the SEC’s postponement of VanEck’s Bitcoin application ruling last week.
$100 million USD investment in Algorand’s DeFi fund
SkyBridge is looking to bolster the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, which is more than evident from its recent actions. The hedge fund has reportedly raised $100 million that will be put towards the recently announced Algorand fund. On September 10, Algorand Foundation launched a 150 million ALGO fund (worth more than $320 million USD at current market rates) with the intention of fueling the growth of decentralized exchanges (DEXs), money markets, non-fungible token (NFT) platforms, and more.
While Algorand has shown a pretty lackluster market performance since the fund was announced, the price of ALGO has recently experienced quite an uptick and is up almost 20% in the last 12 hours.
