Crypto Fund Variant Commits $450M to Backing Web3, DeFi Projects

Cryptocurrency fund Variant is committing $450 million to invest in builders of the user-owned web: a $150 million seed fund and a $300 million opportunity fund that will back “projects with demonstrated traction from our portfolio and beyond,” according to a Thursday (July 28) company press release.

As part of the effort, Variant has increased its employee head count to 15 people, all of whom have expertise in DeFi, consumer and infrastructure, token design, community building and more.

“What we have learned over the last few years has reinforced our thesis that user-owned networks grow bigger and faster than their traditional centralized counterparts, with more favorable economic terms for users,” wrote Variant’s Li Jin, Spencer Noon and Jesse Walden in the press release. “Beyond that, it has also shown that ownership is a vast design space, with different experiences ranging from participation in a community to financial exposure to governance.”

Variant will focus on financial empowerment through DeFi, the expansion of blockchain computing, and Web3 consumers and user experiences.

Related: Iceland: A Key European Center for Web3 and AML Innovation Technology

Earlier this week, PYMNTS dove into Iceland’s FinTech landscape, saying it can be divided into two groups: one group of blockchain-focused developers blurring the boundaries between FinTech, gaming and Web3 commerce, and the other group being a small community of anti-money laundering startups pioneering the use of artificial intelligence to prevent financial crime.

With three non-fungible token marketplaces launching in the last two years, Iceland is fast becoming an important hub for Web3 commercial activity, which relies on decentralized exchange mechanisms designed specially for digital assets and marketplaces.

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