Bitcoin Daily: Hedgefund Billionaire Plans $1B Crypto Venture; Baton Gets Series A Funding

Elwood Asset Management — owned by British billionaire and Brevan Howard Founder Alan Howard — is planning a $1 billion venture into the crypto hedge fund space.

The asset manager is developing a platform that would tailor portfolios of cryptocurrency funds for institutional investors, the Financial Times reported on Aug. 30.

Howard is launching a $1 billion endeavor for specially-designed cryptocurrency hedge fund portfolios. The new venture will offer a variety of cryptocurrency hedge funds that will take advantage of the growth in that sector.

In related news, the California-based blockchain Baton Systems said it has received $12 million in series A funding led by Trinity Ventures, Venture Beat reported.

The provider of bank-to-bank payments infrastructure technology also got funding from Alsop Louie and Commerce Ventures. Baton Systems Founder and CEO Arjun Jayaram said the money will increase Baton’s ability to offer on-demand payments.

“This investment provides us with the strategic support and firepower to scale our bank-to-bank payment solution for the world’s leading financial institutions even faster and more effectively,” Jayaram said in the report. “Speed to market is critical in an industry that is crying out for modernization while at the same time facing a daunting global regulatory environment.”

In other bitcoin news, Korean startup Artbloc is selling two works by David Hockney in September and will issue 8,500 tokens for “Focus Moving” and 5,000 tokens for “Pictured Gathering with Mirror,” Coindesk reported on Friday (Aug. 30).

An event is planned at Lounge K in Gangnam on Sept. 19 and each token will be priced at 9,900 won ($8.18).

Artbloc CEO Jun Kim said it wants to offer high-end art to regular investors and customers since auction houses and art galleries generally serve only the rich. “Artbloc will sell high-end art to the public,” Kim said.

On the regulatory front, Cointelegraph reported that Nevada’s finance regulator, the Financial Institutions Division of the Department of Business and Industry (NFID), said bitcoin ATM operators must conform to existing rules.

“Any entity that facilitates the transmission of or holds fiat or digital currency by way of brick-and-mortar, kiosk, mobile, internet or any other means, should contact the NFID to request a licensure determination,” the regulator said.

Nevada currently has 110 bitcoin ATMs. The U.S. has more machines than any other country, accounting for almost 3,500 of the global total of 5,500.