Billionaire Investor Henry Kravis Makes First Crypto Investment

Billionaire investor and philanthropist Henry Kravis is dipping his toe into the world of crypto assets.

According to a piece by Bloomberg on Friday, Kravis – who is co-founder of global investment firm KKR & Co. – is said to have invested in a cryptocurrency fund offered by ParaFi Capital.

The news comes via ParaFi founder and CIO Ben Forman, a former KKR employee who left to form the San Francisco-based digital asset startup. Bloomberg said a spokeswoman for Kravis has declined to comment on the investment.

Forman describes ParaFi Capital as an "investment firm focused on the blockchain ecosystem" with backing from Bain Capital Ventures, Dragonfly Capital Partners and more. According to Crunchbase, ParaFi has invested in crypto exchange Coinbase and ethereum-based stablecoin developer MakerDAO,

As well as working on debt investments, Forman led KKR’s research efforts on blockchain and crypto before leaving the firm in 2018, Bloomberg says.

Forman said:

“While I toyed with the idea of pursuing blockchain investing within KKR, it was clear to me that the firm did not provide the optimal format to do so. Instead of pursuing crypto at KKR, I wanted to build the KKR of crypto.”

Kravis has an estimated net worth of $5.8 billion as of mid-2018, and is ranked by Forbes as the 365th richest person in the world, according to Wikipedia.

Henry Kravis image via Christopher Michel/Wikipedia Commons