Hivemind Capital Partners, a web3 and digital asset investment firm, has expanded to Hong Kong while appointing a veteran banker as its head of Asia.
In an interview with The Block, Stanley Huo, a former investment banker, said he joined Hivemind in September to lead the firm’s business strategy and operations in Asia from his base in Hong Kong.
“It was very interesting to see that the Hong Kong government welcomes all the Web3 capital and talents… They want to build up a Web3 center,” said Huo, who has over 15 years of investment banking experience at China Renaissance, UBS, Citi and BAML across Asia and Europe.
Hivemind launched a $1.5 billion investment vehicle in late 2021 and Huo said it still has some “dry powder now that we can still deploy.”
In June, Hivemind said that it was launching a $300 million crypto fund dubbed the Liquid Opportunity Fund. Its founder Matt Zhang told The Block at the time that it had secured $60 million.
Hong Kong beckons
Hivemind said today in a statement that Hong Kong offers “an ecosystem where it is easier to access traditional finance infrastructure, raise capital, explore blockchain-related innovations.”
Huo said that for the next few months, he plans to make some new hires for Hivemind’s team in Asia and for two projects it is incubating in the region. “With our presence here, getting engineering talents from China is also part of the potential attractiveness to people like us,” he added.
Numerous crypto firms are also looking at expanding to Hong Kong. For example, Zodia Custody, a Standard Chartered-backed digital asset custodian, announced earlier this week that it is launching its services in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong in June launched its crypto retail trading licensing scheme in an attempt to position itself as a major crypto hub in Asia. Last month, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission said that it has updated its regulatory framework with two additional investor protection measures.
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