$100 million fund founded by ex-Binance execs comes out of stealth

Former executives from crypto exchange Binance have revealed a $100 million fund focused on blockchain investments.

The fund, named Old Fashion Research, was founded in late 2021 by former Binance VP of M&A Ling Zhang and Wayne Fu, previously Binance head of corporate development, according to a statement on Thursday. While at Binance, Zhang led the exchange's acquisitions and investments into FTX, Multicoin Capital and CertiK among others. 

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Although since its founding the fund has largely operated in stealth, it has already backed over 50 blockchain projects including trading platform Woo Network, move-to-earn NFT game Genopets and ZetaChain,  a smart contract platform built for omnichain interoperability. 

“We’re very excited to come out of stealth with our new fund and help build the next generation of Web 3.0 dApps,” said Zhang in the press release. “The OFR team has established solid knowledge and a wide range of experience across M&A, investment and incubation from our previous successful portfolio building at Binance." 

The launch of the fund comes at a time when venture capital firms continue to raise vast sums for blockchain investments — despite weakness in crypto markets. On Wednesday, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) announced a $4.5 billion fund for crypto and blockchain startups. Earlier in the week, Standard Crypto also raised a $500 million fund to invest in both equity and crypto.

About Author

Tom is a deals reporter at The Block covering venture capital, fundraises, fintech and M&A. Before joining, he was an editorial intern at the FT-backed platform Sifted where he reported on neobanks, payment firms and blockchain startups. You can reach him by email at [email protected] or Telegram @tommatsuda.