Hassan Maishera
Osprey Funds To Invest Millions Of Dollars Into NFTs
Osprey Funds, a crypto investment firm that offers institutions exposure to several crypto assets, revealed yesterday that it had raised hundreds of millions of dollars to invest in NFTs. The fund, named Osprey Alpha, will focus on investing in nonfungible tokens.
In its press release yesterday, the firm’s CEO Greg King said, “We’re in business to provide investors with exposure to the most exciting segments of the digital asset ecosystem. With Osprey Alpha, we will focus on the development and rollout of several unique, actively-managed strategies for sophisticated investors beginning with our NFT product.”
Osprey has hired former Stocktwits executive and early NFT collector Justin Paterno to manage Osprey Alpha. In this role, Justin will design and implement the NFT fund investment strategy. Paterno stated that he sees similarities between NFTs now and the early days of Web 2.0. “Communities and networks have always been a major driver of value on the web — which increasingly defines culture. NFTs allow communities to own the cultural capital they create. There is immense growth potential here,” he added.
NFTs have become very popular within the cryptocurrency space and beyond. In the last quarter, NFT trading volume surpassed $10 billion for the first time. The trading volume in the fourth quarter of 2021 is expected to be higher as more investors enter the market.
OpenSea and Rarible remain the leading NFT platforms, accounting for over 70% of the total NFT trading volume. However, the NFT space is set to become more competitive as giants such as Binance, Coinbase and FTX start to expand their presence in the market.
In addition to adding Justin to the team, Osprey hired Ashley Levin as Managing Director of Corporate Strategy to support business growth and expansion. Furthermore, Aga Kuplinska joins the team from Invesco as Senior Vice President of Product Development.
