One of Asia’s richest businessmen, Li Ka-Shing, is backing an upcoming crypto exchange. Mr. Li, who is 90 years old and one of the world’s richest men with a net worth of $34 billion, has invested in NYSE’s upcoming Bakkt platform through his investment firm Horizon Ventures.
When Bakkt announced that it had raised a round of $182 million last week, Horizon Ventures was also among the companies that appeared in its list of investors. With this, the number of prominent names associated with Bakkt has got a new entrant. We already know that it has got the support of Microsoft as well as Starbucks, and now the entry of Li Ka-Shing opens a new pool of opportunities before this platform.
For those that aren’t aware of the Bakkt situation, you can read our article for an overview here.
Bakkt is expected to launch within this quarter of the year, and it will allow people to trade physically settled Bitcoin futures, which is being considered a game changer. Intercontinental Exchange (or ICE, the company that also runs New York Stock Exchange or NYSE), the US-based giant behind this platform, plans to launch the exchange sometime at the end of January or the beginning of February.
Not Mr. Li’s first bet on the cryptocurrency
Even though this investment is considered big and new news, this isn’t the first time Mr. Li invested in a cryptocurrency company.
He has already invested in crypto payments processor Bitpay and blockchain technology provider Blockstream. While his Bitpay investment was made way back in 2013, in Blockstream, he had invested in 2016. So while he is one of those rarest billionaires who believed in Bitcoin early on, his Bakkt investment proves that he has not lost faith in Bitcoin even after the recent bear market.