SPiCE Takes Tokenized Blockchain VC Fund to Asia in Quest for Greater Liquidity

Tal Elyashiv thinks Malaysia's Fusang Exchange will bring SPiCE VC the liquidity surge he seeks.

Sep 1, 2020 at 6:06 p.m. UTC

Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 9:50 a.m. UTC

SPiCE Venture Capital has listed its tokenized blockchain fund (SPiCE VC) on Fusang Exchange as the firm’s director, Tal Elyashiv, turns to Asia in his hunt for token liquidity.

Elyashiv told CoinDesk that Fusang will introduce SPiCE VC to global investors, family offices and institutions in Asia that the tokenized fund simply could not reach before.
Fusang informed CoinDesk that it will now facilitate SPiCE VC's second funding round in the token's nearly two-year history, becoming the Malaysian exchange's first-ever digital security alongside a tokenized hedge fund called Protos, which also listed on Fusang Tuesday.
SPiCE VC has previously told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it intends to raise up to $100 million through securities offerings. A company brochure dated March 31 states the fund manages $15 million.
The new listing adds an Asia-based exchange to SPiCE VC's two existing trading marketplaces: SharesPost and OpenFinance.
But the U.S.-centric pair “have not lived up to the promise of a marketplace that is active,” said Elyashiv, even if they had access to other jurisdictions. And neither marketplaces have the functionality of a full-service exchange.
He explained that SharesPost's digital securities route through its over-the-counter desk.
And he said that OpenFinance does not take asset custody, making for a complicated on-boarding process that he said restricts investors' access to liquidity. (SPiCE recently tapped Coinbase for custody services).
Fusang, meanwhile, has the licensure necessary to execute transactions on chain. "This allows a trading experience that is very similar to what investors are used to from traditional exchanges (and digital asset exchanges)," he said in an email statement. “They run a full book."
"Listing on Fusang provides our investors an additional liquidity option that is focused on Asian markets," Elyashiv said. SPiCE VC now trades across all three marketplaces.
The new listing is SPiCE VC’s latest attempt to pump liquidity into an asset class that seldom trades hands.
“Liquidity is the number one issue for [investors] in the VC industry,” Elyashiv said. “And we wanted to find a solution for that.”
SPiCE’s portfolio companies include Securitize, Bakkt and INX Exchange, which this week is proceeding with its long-awaited tokenized public offering.

UPDATE (September 2, 22:22 UTC): This article has been updated to include clarifications from Tal Elyashiv on SPiCE VC's liquidity access and marketplace particulars. Context has also been added to fundraising figures and descriptions and statements from Fusang Exchange.

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