Crypto VC firm CoinFund enters Hong Kong as capital moves to Asia

As regulatory challenges in the U.S. still remain, CoinFund is now seeing capital moving out of the country to Asia.

CoinFund, a New York-based cryptocurrency investment firm, has expanded its services in Asia with a new hire as regulatory challenges for the industry in the U.S. remain in place.

With Dmitry Lapidus, a newly-appointed Senior Liquid Analyst at CoinFund, the firm wants to double down on Asia as more crypto entrepreneurs come to the region, the South China Morning Post reports. As per Lapidus, the investment firm picked Hong Kong for its debut in Asia partly due to the way the city attracts crypto talents.

“If you look at the history of how this industry has evolved, there has always been very active participation from Hong Kong and China, in particular in the early days. So I almost view it as one of the more natural places for innovation and for experimentation.”

Dmitry Lapidus

Founded in 2015, CoinFund made over 120 investment deals, supporting such crypto startups as NEAR and LedgerX. And while other VCs downsized their investments in crypto, CoinFund appears to be sticking to its plan to support the market.

In July 2023, the New York-headquartered firm raised $158 million for its new crypto fund called CoinFund Seed IV Fund. As noted by TechCrunch, the latest fund is 90.4% larger than its third seed fund of $83 million.

However, CoinFund is not the only crypto-focused VC firm, which wants to expand its reach in Hong Kong. Hivemind Capital Partners, the other U.S.-headquartered investment crypto firm also landed in the region earlier in November 2023.