Former Binance Execs Create $100M Fund to Spur Crypto Adoption in Emerging Markets
Old Fashion Research was formed by Ling Zhang and Wayne Fu, previously Binance's vice president of M&A and head of corporate development respectively.
May 26, 2022 at 8:56 a.m. UTCUpdated May 11, 2023 at 5:39 p.m. UTC
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A group of former executives of cryptocurrency exchange Binance have created a $100 million venture fund with a focus on the metaverse and bringing greater crypto adoption to emerging markets.
- Old Fashion Research (OFR) was formed by Ling Zhang and Wayne Fu, previously Binance's vice president of M&A and head of corporate development respectively.
- The fund, backed by traditional venture capital funds, family offices and angel investors, will focus on the metaverse and crypto adoption in emerging markets.
- "We see a greater potential of crypto adoption in markets where people are still struggling from the underdeveloped finance and banking system," an OFR spokesperson told CoinDesk. "We also see the potential of crypto to further change people's life and work style after seeing the fast growth in Southeast Asia markets."
- The fund, whose name was inspired by the Old Fashioned cocktail, according to the fund's website, has already invested in over 50 blockchain projects. These include blockchain analytics platform Nansen, trading platform WOO Network and African gaming community Metaverse Magna.
- Despite the troubling conditions of the crypto markets in recent weeks and months, venture capital does not appear to have been overly spooked. This week Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) formed its fourth fund to invest in crypto companies worth $4.5 billion, more than double the size of its third raised nearly a year ago.
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UPDATE (09:55 UTC May 26): Adds quote from OFR spokesperson. Removes references to and some details from Tech Crunch article and OFR not being available for comment.
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Jamie Crawley is a CoinDesk news reporter based in London.