Tag: henri arslanian

PwC: Crypto M&A and Fundraising in Asia Reports Major Growth

Crypto activity has shifted significantly from the Americas to APAC/EMEA
Crypto equity fundraising ticket sizes have increased by 50%
 Crypto M&A and fundraising activity have increased by 51% in 2019

PwC previewed its latest white paper—PwC Global Crypto M&A and Fundraising Report—last Thursday at CoinDesk’s Invest: Asia event. The report was further shared by Henri Arslanian, the global crypto leader at PwC, via LinkedIn. This is the first report by PwC on the broader crypto ecosystem, but the firm will continue to publish updates twice a year moving forward.

Insights

Both cryptocurrency M&As and fundraising deals in the Americas have fallen to 41% in H1 2019 in comparison to the 60% of overall global deals reflected in the data for H1 2018. Although the Americas still count as the key driver, Asia and the Middle East now assume the bulk of the activity with five out of the top ten crypto M&A deals.   According to the report, the average crypto equity fundraising tickets have increased from US$6 million to US9million, marking a 50% increase in H1 2019 compared to H1 2018.

Despite a notable drop in the number of deals in Q3 2018, the crypto market rebounded in Q1 2019 and PwC reports an overall increase in crypto M&A of 15% activity at Q2 2019. Fundraising deals have also increased by 51% when comparing Q2 2019 vs Q1 2019.

Trends for Q3 & Q4 2019

Historically crypto fundraising and M&A appears to be positively correlated with the price of Bitcoin. PwC expects this trend to continue and recent surges in market activity should empower the cryptocurrency exchanges and leading industry players with confidence and it is expected that they will look to acquire and expand in the second half of 2019.

The noted rise of 51% in capital allocated to fundraising activities, from Q1 2019 to Q2 2019, indicates that investors may seek further exposure in the crypto market by backing institutional-grade companies.

The surge of activity in the crypto space from Q1 to Q2 2019 has seen many global players, who had up until recently been sitting on the sidelines, rejoin the market. PwC’s report indicates the accelerated involvement of these investors has been accelerated by the anticipated launch of Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra and other recent macro events and announcements from major institutions.  

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PwC Veteran Quits Role to Establish Digital Asset Fund in Dubai

Henri Arslanian, the former Global Head of crypto at the financial advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), has launched his own crypto-dedicated venture capital firm, Nine Blocks Capital Management, and has chosen Dubai as the outfit’s base of operation.

According to a report from the Financial Times (FT), Nine Blocks will be bootstrapped by its Hong Kong-based primary shareholder, Nine Masts Capital, with $75 million.

Nine Blocks is kickstarting its operations at a time when most firms in the digital assets ecosystem have taken a beating in recent times due to the market onslaught steered by the May collapse of Terraform Labs’ native tokens UST and LUNA. Nine Blocks has notably positioned three portfolio managers in the Cayman Islands and will seek to inject capital into firms irrespective of their geographical location.

According to Arslanian, the choice of Dubai was hinged on the city’s bullish approach to help guide the growth of the blockchain ecosystem on its shores. As disclosed to the FT, Nine Blocks has already secured the provisional regulatory approval to operate in the city.

“Hong Kong would have been a natural home for us”, said Arslanian, adding that Nine Blocks had also considered Singapore. “However, when we looked at the broader ecosystem . . . Cayman and Dubai made a natural choice.”

Arslanian said Dubai offers ease of travel and its time zone makes it easy to connect with other regions in the Middle East and Asia. 

Dubai is notably transforming itself as an emerging crypto power hub, with firms like Binance and FTX having recently received the license to operate there. The positioning of Dubai gives it a very fair advantage seeing how other major destination points for the digital currency ecosystem, including Hong Kong, Singapore, and Seoul, are gradually tightening their fists when it comes to crypto firms looking to do business there.

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