TrustToken, an asset backed cryptocurrency, has netted $20m in a strategic round.
This round received contributions from investment firms including Andreessen Horowitz, BlockTower Capital, Danhua Capital, Jump Capital, ZhenFund, Distributed Global, Slow Ventures, and GGV Capital, among others.
The TrustToken platform utilises blockchains to create asset-backed tokens that can be bought and sold around the world. Its first product TrueUSD, is a cryptocurrency that is one-for-one for US dollars and has a market capitalisation of more than $60m. The tokens can be traded on crypto exchanges like Binance, Bittrex, and Upbit.
A new round for the TrustToken pre-sale for accredited investors is set for the end of June.
Any new tokenised asset will issue a new coin, and these will represent a fractional ownership and control of the item. Assets include, Rental properties, timeshares, small businesses, stocks, bonds, US dollars, Euros, gold, silver, oil, movies, books, TV shows, music and patents.
Proceeds from the round will be used to support the development of the asset tokenisation platform, and the expansion of its legal, partnership, product and engineering departments.
BlockTower CIO and managing partner Ari Paul said, “Tokenization of real-world assets will produce value much in the same way that ‘equitization’ did. We can now buy fractional ownership in a basket of commercial office buildings or commodities via equity instruments. Tokenization will further reduce friction in asset trading and ownership.”
This deal marks Andreessen Horowitz’s tenth FinTech investment of the year. Earlier in the month, the firm participated in the $325m Series E round of online real estate marketplace Opendoor.
Other deals in the year include a commitment to the $133m round of Basis, a cryptocurrency with an algorithmic central bank. The company makes digital tokens stable and deployable globally by distributing the coins in a similar manner to banks bringing money into circulation.
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