Media company TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington has announced that he is raising $100 mln for a hedge fund called Arrington XRP Capital. The fund will be mainly involved in the buying and holding of cryptocurrency assets, as well as in investing in token sales and some equities and debt.
According to Arrington, his entry to the virtual currency market marks the next stage of his professional career and he thinks that he will be involved in the sector until his retirement.
"In the last several months, I've gone from crypto enthusiast to 100 percent crypto. I've only been looking at crypto deals. This is what I think I'll be doing the rest of my career."
Brief details of the fund
According to Arrington, the fund is the first of its kind that will compel all limited partners (LP) to invest in Ripple (XRP). The cryptocurrency is being used to power the RippleNet software of San Francisco-based startup Ripple. The token will also be utilized by Arrington XRP Capital for all distribution transactions, as well as fees.
Arrington further added that their use of Ripple’s XRP token will improve on the current digital currency hedge fund model by resolving some major issues seen in the present model. One issue is the practice by the hedge funds to take investments from fiat currencies with the purpose of investing in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum to support the launching of new virtual currencies.
"We think XRP is a particularly useful currency because of the transaction times. I think it makes a lot of sense to denominate a hedge fund in a cryptocurrency, the only downside is [potential] volatility against fiat."
Arrington’s partners in the fund are former TechCrunch Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Heather Harde, and two other unidentified individuals. Arrington and his partners have already raised $50 mln for the fund and are eyeing to conclude their fundraising before the end of 2017.