Binance Launches $1 Billion Fund to Support Startups

Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange behemoth, is set to launch a $1 billion fund for cryptocurrency and blockchain technology startups. Ella Zhang, Head of Binance Labs, announced the establishment of the fund during an online meetup session on May 31, 2018. 

The Binance Social Impact Fund

The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange platform will invest $1 billion, in ten separate phases of $100 million each, into what has been dubbed the “Social Impact Fund.” The program will purportedly invest in startup projects and cryptocurrency/blockchain funds. According to Ella Zhang, Head of Binance Labs, the company plans to collaborate with 20 such cryptocurrency/blockchain funds, which must manage assets worth at least $100 million to be eligible to participate in the Binance Social Impact Fund.

The Social Impact Fund will focus on projects in specific areas — including decentralized exchanges, custodial solutions, stablecoins, and security token platforms.

Corr: we’d like to partner w/ fund managers who have managed >$100m AUM accumulatively, not that we only invest in crypto funds w/ >$100m AUM. Instead, we like small funds managed by experienced investors. Thanks @TechCrunch. We’ll do an EN AMA this Thur! https://t.co/HJxx0CtLbc

— Ella Zhang (@ellazhang516) June 1, 2018

According to Zhang, Chen Weixing’s blockchain-based ride-hailing startup will be the first recipient of the fund. Speaking on the development, Zhang said:

We believe it’s a disruptive social experiment. Binance Labs hopes to work with more aspirational projects to explore blockchain applications and together move forward the growth of the industry.

Supporting Blockchain Development

The $1 billion investment will come in the form of the company’s in-house Binance Coin (BNB) tokens, which are currently trading at $14.54.

The BNB token has performed well in recent months, consistently staying above the $12 mark in April. BNB is up roughly 70 percent since the start of 2018.

The Social Impact Fund is hardly Binance’s first attempt to facilitate the development of useful blockchain innovations. Despite being less than a year old, the exchange platform is already one of the most prominent players in the burgeoning industry.

In March, the company launched a $1 million hackathon tagged “The Binance Dexathon” in order to fast-track the development of functioning decentralized exchange (DEX) protocols.

Zhang also announced that Binance would be funding two other important initiatives — the “Binance Ecosystem Fund” and the “Cryptocurrency Governance Initiative.” The former aims to forge strategic partnerships with 20 future collaborators and to explore numerous blockchain solutions, while the latter focuses on developing a framework that encourages self-regulation and the combating of scams in the industry.

Do you think the Binance Fund will have any meaningful impact in the cryptocurrency and blockchain technology space? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! 

Images courtesy of Bitcoinist archives, Twitter/@ellazhang516, and CoinMarketCap.com.