The Taiwan-based crypto venture capital company Sora Ventures has just announced the launch of Asia’s first Bitcoin Treasury Fund – and the amount is nothing to scoff at. According to reports, the firm plans to acquire $1 billion worth of Bitcoin and use this primarily to investment in Bitcoin Treasury companies across Asia (companies that focus on accumulating Bitcoin for their corporate treasuries).
This new fund follows a number of individual Bitcoin Treasury firms that have emerged across Asia in recent years, such as Japan’s Metaplanet (which currently holds 20,000 BTC worth over $2.2 billion), Hong Kong’s Moon Inc, South Korea’s BitPlanet and most recently Thailand’s DV8. While these companies hold bitcoin directly on their own balance sheets, the Sora Ventures treasury fund will act as a central pool of institutional capital designed to both support these existing firms and fuel the creation of similar treasuries globally.
As reported by Bitcoin Magazine:
By doubling down on Asia’s early Bitcoin treasury pioneers while expanding outward, the fund aims to create synergies between regional and international treasuries, strengthening Bitcoin’s role as a reserve asset across markets…The initiative will also bring in new institutional partners to broaden resources and expand the network of Bitcoin treasury companies operating in Asia.”
The Bitcoin corporate treasury strategy first emerged in the US – led by the Nasdaq-listed Strategy that now holds about 3% of Bitcoin’s total supply. However, over the past year or so, the trend has gained traction in Asia, which is now positioning itself as a serious contender for institutional Bitcoin investment. Most recently a Thai firm, DV8, became the first such treasury firm in Southeast Asia. Jason Fang, founder and Managing Partner at Sora Ventures, highlighted the shift as follows:
“Asia has been one of the most important markets for the development of blockchain technology and Bitcoin. We have seen a rise in interest from institutions investing in Bitcoin treasuries in the US and the EU, while in Asia efforts have been relatively fragmented. This is the first time in history that institutional money has come together, from local to regional, and now to a global stage.”
Opponents of Bitcoin argue it is a high-risk asset with no underlying value, or simply a Ponzi scheme. Proponents like Sora Ventures argue it is the future of money, the best performing asset (by far) over the past 16 years, and a store of value that will eventually outpace Gold – because it is backed not by central banks or governments that freely print money to an inflationary ruin, rather it is backed by math and code.