Hedge fund manager Alan Howard revealed that he is investing broadly across the crypto industry, including in several new projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Speaking in an interview with The Block, Howard, who is a co-founder and CEO of European hedge fund management company Brevan Howard, first began investing heavily in crypto startups in late 2020. Howard revealed that his investment in the industry has grown to be far more widespread, including public and private markets, equity and tokens, centralized and decentralized systems, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Howard claimed that diving head first into a number of different areas of the crypto industry gave him a better understanding of the market than his competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said,\u00a0<\/p>\n
You have to be in, and have exposure to, the crypto world to understand what is going on there, to identify the challenges and opportunities you\u2019ll face and to know what infrastructure you will have to build to meet those challenges and opportunities head on.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Howard called crypto an important new asset class that will likely \u201cimpact the technology and the economy at large for many years to come.\u201d The hedge fund manager said he found it more beneficial to invest across the entire ecosystem in a \u201chighly diversified manner\u201d given the nascent status for the asset class.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Howard has stepped back from his role as CEO of Brevan Howard, he says that he still has an active presence in the company, particularly BH Digital. BH Digital, which was set up earlier in the year, serves as the hedge fund\u2019s \u201cdedicated crypto arm,\u201d and works with investors such as pension funds and foundations to gain crypto exposure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He also revealed the creation of WebN Group, a research-based incubator that works to offer early-stage crypto entrepreneurs resources to assist in scaling up their ideas. The project is particularly focused on grassroots, community-oriented projects. <\/p>\n