Friday, February 22, 2019

The next wave? 🌊

February 22, 2019

University of Michigan Endowment Considers Further Investment in Crypto

While some crypto fund managers are heading for the hills, Chief Investment Officer Erik Lundberg is considering doubling down on the asset class using the $12 billion University of Michigan endowment.

In a published board of regents meeting agenda, the endowment had previously committed $3 million to Andreessen Horowitz's $300 million crypto fund, but is now looking to increase investments.

That aligns well with Lundberg's comments last October when he revealed that performance was "sufficient to sustain and grow the endowment in real terms, net of spending."

Not the first endowment

Outside of the University of Michigan, Harvard and Yale have also allocated endowment money to crypto-related technologies.

According to Inside Higher Ed, 802 prominent universities around the U.S. held an estimated $616.5 billion in total endowment funds.

Welcoming pensions

But that's peanuts compared to public pension funds.

According to the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, public pensions held $4.41 trillion in assets in 2018.

If these funds begin to roll into the industry, it could have significant effects.

Just last week, Morgan Creek Digital secured $40 million from a wide variety of investors including the Fairfax County, Virginia's Police Officer's Retirement System and the Employees' Retirement System.

REGULATION

FBI is Now Questioning Victims of the BitConnect Ponzi Scheme

In a notice posted on its website, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is asking for those who invested in the BitConnect coin (BCC) to take a questionnaire.

The responses would be "useful" for the ongoing investigation that started months after BitConnect's lending platform collapsed and left investors with worthless coins.

Who is responsible?

The project's death left fingers pointing each and every way about who was to blame.

Some argue that popular influencers who promoted the scheme should be punished and charged for misleading investors.

However, one of the largest promoters, Trevon James, dismissed the accusations and denied his involvement:

"I'm glad that I don't know anything, so that means there's no proof that I knew anything."

EXCHANGE

Coinbase CEO: QuadrigaCX Probably Didn't Exit Scam

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong took to Twitter yesterday to share his thoughts about the QuadrigaCX debacle that shook the industry this month.

In the thread, Armstrong explained that the exchange was "one of the oldest exchanges in existence" and likely didn't exit scam.

He then continued to explain Coinbase's research surrounding the event and concluded that the exchange could have used the CEO's recent death as a way to cover poor exchange management and sink the business at the same time.

But these claims are all speculation.

For now, creditors and exchange management are in an all out war to claim the $190 million lost - a battle that probably won't end anytime soon.

BITS

But wait, there's more...

🚀 Thailand has approved the issuance and trading of blockchain securities.
💰 Angellist spin-off Coinlist is ready to launch its first token sale of 2019.
❄️ Crypto winter erased speculators and brought in real builders, says Reddit co-founder.

MEME