Li Ka-shing boosts bitcoin investments amid currency crackdown in China
Asia’s
richest man Li Ka-shing has boosted his investment in bitcoin, in a
vote of confidence for the beleaguered digital currency, amid a
crackdown on its widespread popularity in China.
Despite
the price of a bitcoin tumbling from political pressure, the
billionaire tycoon has poured an undisclosed amount of money, believed
to be worth millions of dollars, into Bitpay, the bitcoin equivalent to
PayPal, through his venture capital investment company Horizons
Ventures.
Bitpay
has raised US$30 million (HK$233 million) in Series A funding
(convertible into common shares when an IPO is launched) from eight
investors including Li’s money-spinning vehicle, Horizons. Fellow
investors include Virgin’s Richard Branson, and top technology men
including billionaires, the founder of Yahoo, Jerry Yang, and PayPal
founder Peter Thiel.
Buoyed
by the investment, set to be the single largest fundraiser by a bitcoin
company, BitPay co-founder Tony Gallippi said in a statement: “Bitcoin
is a borderless and frictionless payment system, which is nearing a
tipping-point moment in terms of merchant adoption.
Gallippi,
also the company’s executive chairman, added: “Unlike existing payment
technologies such as credit cards, with their high fees and risk of
fraud and chargebacks, Bitcoin was designed for the internet age (sic),
offering companies a lower-cost, lower-risk alternative.”
A spokeswoman for Horizons Ventures said: “We do not comment on any deals or rumours.”
John Greenwood, the architect of Hong Kong’s pegged currency regime, told the South China Morning Post in December, said investors should follow Li’s move to buy into firms providing the services that bitcoin holders use.
Horizons
has a long and successful track record of investing in technology
start-ups that turned into global brands with Li, currently worth US$32
billion according to Bloomberg Billionaires index, among the investors.
Some of Horizons investment successes are social network behemoth
Facebook and voice-over-IP service provider Skype, now owned by
Microsoft.
Index
Ventures Partner Jan Hammer, another of the investors alongside
Horizon, added: “We see BitPay playing a key role in the future of
electronic payments and paving the path for digital currency bitcoin.”
The
global price of bitcoin has lost three-quarters of its value in just
six months, tumbling from a peak of US$1,242 per coin. The latest price
fall comes on repeated warnings from China’s central bank asking
mainland financial institutions to stop doing business with bitcoin
companies and individual customers to protect the value of the renminbi.
A
US government report published on Monday said if Beijing successfully
prevents Chinese users from accessing bitcoin, price declines would
continue and threaten its legitimacy.
Asia’s
richest man Li Ka-shing has boosted his investment in bitcoin, in a
vote of confidence for the beleaguered digital currency, amid a
crackdown on its widespread popularity in China.
Despite
the price of a bitcoin tumbling from political pressure, the
billionaire tycoon has poured an undisclosed amount of money, believed
to be worth millions of dollars, into Bitpay, the bitcoin equivalent to
PayPal, through his venture capital investment company Horizons
Ventures.
Bitpay
has raised US$30 million (HK$233 million) in Series A funding
(convertible into common shares when an IPO is launched) from eight
investors including Li’s money-spinning vehicle, Horizons. Fellow
investors include Virgin’s Richard Branson, and top technology men
including billionaires, the founder of Yahoo, Jerry Yang, and PayPal
founder Peter Thiel.
Li Ka-shing has boosted his investment in bitcoin. Photo: Edward Wong
Gallippi,
also the company’s executive chairman, added: “Unlike existing payment
technologies such as credit cards, with their high fees and risk of
fraud and chargebacks, Bitcoin was designed for the internet age (sic),
offering companies a lower-cost, lower-risk alternative.”
A spokeswoman for Horizons Ventures said: “We do not comment on any deals or rumours.”
John Greenwood, the architect of Hong Kong’s pegged currency regime, told the South China Morning Post in December, said investors should follow Li’s move to buy into firms providing the services that bitcoin holders use.
Horizons
has a long and successful track record of investing in technology
start-ups that turned into global brands with Li, currently worth US$32
billion according to Bloomberg Billionaires index, among the investors.
Some of Horizons investment successes are social network behemoth
Facebook and voice-over-IP service provider Skype, now owned by
Microsoft.
Index
Ventures Partner Jan Hammer, another of the investors alongside
Horizon, added: “We see BitPay playing a key role in the future of
electronic payments and paving the path for digital currency bitcoin.”
The
global price of bitcoin has lost three-quarters of its value in just
six months, tumbling from a peak of US$1,242 per coin. The latest price
fall comes on repeated warnings from China’s central bank asking
mainland financial institutions to stop doing business with bitcoin
companies and individual customers to protect the value of the renminbi.
A
US government report published on Monday said if Beijing successfully
prevents Chinese users from accessing bitcoin, price declines would
continue and threaten its legitimacy.
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