Recently, according to Bloomberg, Ant Group, the fintech giant within the Alibaba conglomerate founded by billionaire Jack Ma, is making headlines for withdrawing $100 million USD from the A&T Capital investment fund.
This move comes just a few months after Yu Jun, a co-founder and partner at A&T, stepped down as CEO amidst a scandal involving sexual misconduct, which generated significant public attention at the time. Notably, Yu Jun was a former executive at Ant Group and played a crucial role in establishing A&T Capital, which aimed to invest in foreign cryptocurrency projects.
In addition to these internal developments, the Chinese government is intensifying its regulatory oversight of cryptocurrency, coinciding with a broader market downturn. Currently, it remains unclear whether A&T Capital will continue its operations or seek new investors to compensate for the funds withdrawn by Ant Group. Representatives from Ant Group, A&T Capital, and Yu Jun have yet to provide any official statements on this matter.
However, Ant Group’s withdrawal from A&T Capital is indicative of a growing caution among Chinese companies regarding the cryptocurrency sector. It’s worth noting that data from PitchBook shows a significant reduction in venture capital investment in the cryptocurrency sector, reaching its lowest point since Q1/2020. This decline follows the market downturn in 2022 and the rising interest in artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
*A&T Capital, established in April 2021, had previously invested in notable cryptocurrency startups such as Matrixport, a digital asset lending service, and ConsenSys, a software company related to Ethereum. Nonetheless, Ant Group was one of the major investors in A&T Capital.
*Ant Group is a financial company affiliated with the Alibaba Group, headquartered in Hangzhou, China. It specializes in payment processing, consumer lending, insurance product distribution, and various other business areas. Both Ant Group and Alibaba were founded by billionaire Jack Ma.
In 2020, Ant Group had planned a massive $30 billion USD IPO in Hong Kong and Shanghai, which would have been the largest IPO in history, surpassing records like Saudi Aramco’s $29.4 billion USD IPO. However, this plan was halted by the Chinese government. Now, the company is preparing for a listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange.