It was a success, and using those funds he started a lending company that grew large enough to get listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange. With those funds he expanded into an electrical company, bought out investment holding firm Hutchison Whampoa.
But the company really worth watching is Horizons Ventures. The only thing Horizons Ventures invests in cutting edge tech Li Ka-shing himself personally selects. This is what sets him aside from possible rivals for the title of 'world's richest cryptocurrency believer'. These investments are his own - not a board of directors playing with other people's money.
So far his selections have been impressive to say the least, and include DeepMind before Google bought them, and Siri before Apple bought them.
His track record makes it easy to make the case that him seeing a future in cryptocurrency really means something. Those who disagree should ask themselves - what does Ka-shing see that they don't? Because the problem probably isn't that they're smarter than he is.
This belief isn't new either, he invested in Bitpay back in 2013, and Blockstream in 2016.
However, after 2018's bear market whenever I see a company mention their big-name investors who invested in prior years, I wonder 'do they still believe? or have they been scared off'?
He's now answered that question - he's still in, so far it seems like they all are. Generally speaking it takes more than 1 bad year to scare off a seasoned investor. In Ka-shing's case it shouldn't be too much of a surprise, Bitcoin was about $85 when it first caught his eye.
This all came to light as cryptocurrency company Bakkt, backed by the New York Stock Exchange, Microsoft, and Starbucks, released the names of 12 of the major investors who took part in their series-A funding which raised $182 million.
Among the "investors who, like us, believe in the future of digital assets" Bakkt shared, was Li Ka-Shingm's Horizons Ventures.
It's way too early to guess how his investment will pay off, currently Bakkt is on hold, pending approval from regulators. This was expected, just part of the process of launching a service like this.
Bakkt hopes to be the key to unlocking the door to world's largest investors participating in the cryptocurrency market. To do so, they first are undertaking becoming legal custodians of cryptocurrencies, similar to how banks that are licensed to hold fiat can assure customers that their funds are safe.
They are expecting to get approval 'early 2019' so it could be any day, or a couple months away.
Ka-shing is officially retired from running his companies, with his son replacing him as CEO. He still sits on the board of directors in a more 'advisory' role, and still is behind all of the investment choices of Horizons Ventures.
Author: Adam Lee
Asia News Desk
