Crypto Hedge Fund Polychain Says It Won't Proceed With IPO

Polychain Capital, the crypto hedge fund backed by Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz,won’t go public in Canada

31 Jan 2018, 06:32 AM IST

Crypto Hedge Fund Polychain Says It Won't Proceed With IPO

A collection of bitcoin tokens sit in this arranged photograph in London, U.K. (Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Polychain Capital, the crypto hedge fund backed by venture firms Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, has decided not to go public in Canada after holdings talks with bankers about an initial public offering.

The company has held discussions with bankers in recent weeks about potentially raising about C$400 million ($325 million) in a share sale and listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange, people familiar with the plans said earlier. Olaf Carlson-Wee, chief executive officer of San Francisco-based Polychain, confirmed the talks Monday but said the firm has since decided not to proceed with a Canadian listing.

Polychain, which invests in blockchain assets, was started in 2016 by Carlson-Wee, the first employee of Bitcoin exchange Coinbase Inc. As of last September, before Bitcoin’s year-end surge, it said it had about $250 million of funds under management.

Hedge funds investing in cryptocurrencies trounced their global peers last year. Nine such funds tracked by Eurekahedge Pte soared 1,167 percent in 2017, compared to the 8 percent returns of hedge funds globally.

To contact the reporters on this story: Scott Deveau in New York at sdeveau2@bloomberg.net, Natalie Obiko Pearson in Vancouver at npearson7@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Scanlan at dscanlan@bloomberg.net, Jacqueline Thorpe, Chris Fournier