Crypto VC C1 With Coinbase Lineage Eyes Acquisition in Australia: Report

Crypto venture capital firm C1, which is led by former Coinbase executives, has met with several cryptocurrency groups and Australian venture firms offering to buy private holdings from investors using its $500 million ($AUD 760 million) fund, according to the Australian Financial Review.

Among the cryptocurrency entities C1 has reached out to are gaming and metaverse-focused venture capital firm Animoca Brands and Chainalysis, the blockchain analysis entity. C1 has offered to buy private holdings from investors at between 50% and 80% discount on their last valuation, according to the report.

Australia has taken a cautious approach to the larger crypto industry ever since the collapse of FTX. Its government has proposed a regime that could take until 2025 for an Australian digital asset platform to receive a licence, updated its tax guidelines to impose capital gains tax on wrapped tokens too, and declared that it won’t be introducing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for some years. But with the crypto market gaining momentum, sentiment may be changing down under.

The report attributed the information to a pitch deck outlining C1’s strategy – seek out entities with a “minimum valuation of $300 million in their last funding round, preferably Series C and later.” The report said C1 wants to write cheques between $20 million and $50 million.

“Due to current market conditions in the public and private markets, hyperinflation and rising interest rates, we believe the digital assets market offers very attractive valuations in the secondary market,” the deck reads, according to the report.

“C1 did not authorize this article, and we have not met with either company directly as of this time,” said Dr. Najam Kidwai, co-founder and managing partner of C1.

Animoca and Chainalysis did not immediately respond to CoinDesk's request for comment.

Read More: Australia Proposes New Licensing Regime for Crypto Exchanges, Aims for Draft Legislation by 2024

UPDATE (Dec. 11, 06:57 UTC): Adds comment from C1.