ForexMinute.com – Confirmed reports have revealed a joint venture between Fortress Investment Group LLC and Pantera Capital that will focus on creating a fund especially focused on virtual currencies, with Bitcoin being the major investment.
The news was first-broke on Wall Street Journal on March 18th.
As per the sources, the joint venture is called Pantera Bitcoin Partners LLC and will be controlled by Pantera, with few input from Fortress, Ribbit Capital and Benchmark Capital as the venture’s minority equity partners. The latter will also take care of the currency and upcoming cryptocurrency-related investments.
Both Fortress and Pantera holds about $58 billion and $147 million in assets, respectively. While the former have been an early Bitcoin investor, the latter is now in a phase of shifting its investments towards digital currencies, by specifically focusing on Bitcoin. Pantera’s earlier strategies were focused more on foreign exchange investments and economic indicators, indicates its chief executive and founder Mr. Dan Morehead.
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Dan Morehead also showed his thrill for the venture, while talking to WSJ. “I have been fascinated by the promise that [Bitcoin] can bring changes to the way we interact with money. So about a year ago, I decided to begin investing in Bitcoin and devoting my full attention to it,†he said, while mentioning their plans of fully focusing on other digital currencies as well. Litecoin, Dogecoin might be the next additions as per the popularity quotient.
Pantera already has also invested $10 million in BitStamp Ltd, a Bitcoin exchange based in Slovania as a sign of its seriousness towards making further investments. The company’s association with Ribbit, which is also a long-time investor in virtual currency ventures, and Benchmark, a Silicon Valley based tech startup, further boils up the dish.
To contact the reporter of the story: Yashu Gola at yashu@forexminute.com
