Jay-Z Adds Incubator to Portfolio of Blockchain/Crypto Investments: Report

Jay-Z knows diamonds are forever, but what about crypto? The hip-hop legend and business mogul’s Marcy Venture Partners (MVP) is adding spatial LABS (sLABS), a metaverse and blockchain-based tech incubator, to his growing list of crypto investments, according to a report from Billboard.

• Founded by 24-year-old entrepreneur Iddris Sandu, next year sLABS will launch its first product, “LNQ,” a blockchain-enabled hardware platform that helps onboard young creators to the metaverse, Billboard reported.
• This is not MVP’s first blockchain/cryptocurrency investment. Others include blockchain developer Alchemy; French hardware wallet and security infrastructure startup Ledger; and ₿trust, a trust with an initial endowment of 500 bitcoin (currently worth almost $58 million) created in partnership with Square CEO Jack Dorsey to fund bitcoin development in Africa and India.
• In May Jay-Z also invested in the $19 million Series A round for Bitski, a self-described “Shopify for NFTs,” or non-fungible tokens.
• Jay-Z also sits on the board of directors of Square, which allows users to buy and sell bitcoin, after selling his Tidal streaming service to the payments provider last year for $300 million. In August, Dorsey said that Square intended to build a decentralized exchange for bitcoin.

Read more: Jay-Z to Auction ‘Reasonable Doubt’ NFT at Sotheby’s

UPDATE (Oct. 12, 20:00 UTC): Updated with information about Square in the fourth bullet point.