Sebastian Sinclair

<div id="highlights-block_62eb59f964feb" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>SCB 10X, the investment arm of one of Thailand&#8217;s largest banks, has appointed a new CEO to lead its investments in Web3, DeFi and blockchain tech</li>
 <li>SCB 10X has so far received &#8220;very good support&#8221; from the bank, the CEO told Blockworks in an interview</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The venture arm of one of Thailand&#8217;s largest banks by total assets has appointed a new CEO to lead its Web3, DeFi and blockchain investments, despite a gloomy market outlook and declining revenues.



SCB 10X, an arm of Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) and holding company of SCB Group, said Thursday it has tapped its chief venture and investment officer, Mukaya (Tai) Panich to succeed former CEO Arak Sutivong. Panich will retain her role as CIO on top of her new position, SCB 10X said.



SCB10X also said it has promoted its head of strategic planning, Pailin Vichakul, to chief operating officer.



The appointments are a &#8220;testament&#8221; to the way in which the investment arm has been conducting itself in the crypto industry, which has so far received &#8220;very good support&#8221; from the bank, Panich told Blockworks in an interview. 



As of March 31, 2022 the Bank had Baht 3.3 trillion ($91.2 billion) in total assets, Bhat 2.5 trillion ($69.1 billion) in deposits and Baht 2.3 trillion ($63.5 billion) in loans on its books.



Investments in crypto have slowed following a market rout in April resulting from the fall out of Terra&#8217;s ecosystem and a liquidity crisis that caught many large lenders off-guard.&nbsp;



&#8220;Even during the crypto winter, we continue to have conviction around this area that seems to be a game changer,&#8221; Panich said in relation to the arm&#8217;s investments in crypto&#8217;s growth areas. 



When asked about considerable headwinds facing the industry as a whole, Panich likened the uptake in Web3, DeFi and blockchain technologies to that of the internet in the early 2000s.



&#8220;It takes a while for all these types of investments and technologies to come to fruition,&#8221; Panich said. &#8220;We are not a short-term investor, we are a long-term investor. It will take some time.&#8221;



Panich, whose background includes more than 20 years of technology investing across Silicon Valley, New York and Singapore, will lead SCB 10X’s initiatives to back and build ecosystems in what it sees as disruptive technologies across Southeast Asia. 



Under her stewardship, SCB 10X will continue to grow its team to achieve its &#8220;moonshot mission,&#8221; the venture arm said.



That mission refers to long-term value creation through exponential technologies, innovations, and investment via venture capital and venture building, according to its <a href="https://www.scb10x.com/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">website</a>.



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Crypto

Venture Arm of SCB Bank Taps New CEO to Lead Crypto Investments

Macauley Peterson

<div id="highlights-block_628e315869ea5" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>a16z has earmarked $1.5B for seed investments in Web3 startups</li>
 <li>It’s time for the “golden era” of Web3, the firm said</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Venture capital behemoth Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has raised the largest-ever crypto venture fund: $4.5 billion.



The vehicle, the firm’s fourth, brings a16z’s total crypto and Web3 holdings to $7.6 billion.&nbsp;



The launch makes good on <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/andreessen-horowitz-looking-to-raise-4-5b-for-new-crypto-funds/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a plan unveiled in January</a>, when the company published a now-updated <a href="https://a16zcrypto.com/#vertical-landing-investment-thesis" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">investment thesis</a> predicated on the “power of software” as “the encoding of human thought, and as such has an almost unbounded design space.”



“We think we are now entering the golden era of Web3,” general partner Chris Dixon said in a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/a16zs-chris-dixon-crypto-growth-is-consistent-despite-downturn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blog post</a> announcing the new fund. “Programmable blockchains are sufficiently advanced, and a diverse range of apps have reached tens of millions of users. More importantly, a massive wave of world-class talent has entered [Web3] over the last year.”



Talent flocks to the industry during a bull market, Dixon <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/a16zs-chris-dixon-crypto-growth-is-consistent-despite-downturn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told the audience</a> at last week’s Permissionless conference in Palm Beach, adding that a bear market is the prime time for builders to focus on what comes next.



The fund will invest in Web3 startups that run the gamut from DeFi, to gaming, infrastructure, DAOs, NFTs, privacy, decentralized social media “and many other areas.”



The firm also plans to expand its in-house staff to meet the vetting needs of additional startup investments.&nbsp;



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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">We will also keep expanding the a16z crypto operating teams that provide world-class support to our founders, spanning research and engineering, security, talent &amp; people, legal &amp; regulatory, go-to-market, and a lot more.&mdash; AriannaSimpson.eth (@AriannaSimpson) <a href="https://twitter.com/AriannaSimpson/status/1529419370534952960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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The crypto portfolio of a16z consists of several dozen companies, including big names like Dapper Labs, dYdX, OpenSea, Near, Solana, Phantom and Uniswap. The <a href="https://a16z.com/2022/05/24/investing-in-flowcarbon/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">most recent addition</a> is Flowcarbon, which is building an on-chain carbon credit tokenization platform.



“Our frequent conversations with builders have given us the confidence to go big, and we’re grateful to be your partner,” Dixon wrote of the latest fund.



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<ul class="wp-block-list">
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<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst. </li>
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