If you have viewed news from the financial sector in the past two years, you have definitely seen coverage featuring cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin dominating much of the headlines. Whether it is a discussion about the feasibility of these currencies or the significant market moves which have happened during the past year, cryptocurrencies are the talk of the financial world. As such, cryptocurrency investment firms have been created. One of the largest firms, Scalar Capital, has hit a milestone after raising money from high-profile investors Marc Andreeseen and Chris Dixon.
With the investment from these two individuals, Scalar Capital now has total assets of more than 20 million dollars. Beyond Marc and Chris, the firm has received investments from Coinbase Co-Founders Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam, as well as angel investor Elad Gil. Chris Dixon, who is a Partner at a16z Crypto, is investing in the company due to the passion of its owner: “We believe in investing in true believers, people who will stick around for a long time. We don’t want these things to be used for speculation. We want real-world use cases with these new protocols.”
The founders are Landa Xie, 26, and Jordan Clifford, 33. Landa has been passionate about investing since her college days. At UC San Diego, she was the President of the Investment Club and developed a keen interest in risk analysis and currency exchange. After working for AIG for 2 years, took a job at Coinbase in a compliance role. At Coinbase, she met Jordan. At Coinbase, she worked as a Growth Engineer at the startup, responsible for recruiting new users to the platform and spreading the word about exchanging cryptocurrencies as a whole. In the Fall of 2017, the two left the company, and thus the story of Scalar Capital began.
Currently, the firm favors what are known as “privacy coin” cryptocurrencies. These cryptocurrencies hide the identities of buyers, sellers, and transaction amounts, which enables a true sense of security for those using it. In many ways, Landa and Jordan do not see Bitcoin as a currency, but rather, as an asset or commodity like gold. They see the value in buying low and selling high, but at a long-term spectrum. In their words, they simply could not believe that if you were to transact with Bitcoin, the person whom you transact with can now see your Bitcoin address and balance.
As a whole, currently the firm is invested in 20 different cryptocurrencies. They plan to hold each crypto asset for a time range of 3 to 5 years. Within those 20 currencies, Scalar is investing in what is known as “scaling-solution” cryptocurrencies. The sole goal of these currencies is to process more transactions per second than other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum. While many in their field are solely concerned with their capital gains and growth potential, Scalar Capital promises an approach that focuses on the principles of decentralization and egalitarianism, the entire reason cryptocurrencies were founded in the first place.
