Virginia's Fairfax County's finest will look forward to a significant retirement fund as their pension is put into an investment. Their pension also makes up the $40 million funding created for Morgan Creek's venture capital fund. Forbes reported that the potentially profitable partnership is directed to creating funding for next-gen blockchain investments.
These pension funds are two separate assets that collectively manage more than $5.1 billion in assets for the state police force and other employees. It had joined up with a $40 million investment into the Morgan Creek Blockchain Opportunities Fund, where it will be invested in cryptocurrency, aside from providing funding for ambitious startups.
The pension fund is already being used. Portions of it have been used as funding for some startup companies that include Bakkt, the blockchain exchange platform which is co-owned by Starbucks, and the Intercontinental Exchange, which currently runs the New York Stock Exchange. It is worth noting that the Venture Capital Fund is unfazed by fear of the 2018 collapse of bitcoin prices, which most capital funding vehicles have shown.
The Block reported that the fund would prioritize making 'equity-based investments' in seed-stage companies that are actively participating in the blockchain space. Not only that, but it will also invest heavily in cryptocurrency exchanges as well as real estate security tokens. Harbor and Coinbase are only a few examples of companies and exchanges that Morgan Creek currently has interests in.
As for the Fairfax County police force, chief investment officer Katherine Molnar shared her thoughts on the new fund. She said that it is a great opportunity that they couldn't afford to ignore. Aside from that, participation in the blockchain industry was exciting, since the return still appeared to be greater than the risks involved.
The funding represented a significant change in public-provided funding for blockchain fund startups. According to Morgan Creek co-founder Anthony Pompliano, the public pension funding from the Fairfax Country Police Force has never happened before. Jason Williams, another co-founder, shared his thoughts--that companies of the future will rely on blockchain technology for many important processes.
The terms of the investment have not been disclosed so far but it is believed to be a 'special-purpose vehicle,' meaning that this investment is not to be included in most startups' 'capitalization tables.' Pompliano said that, initially, the target was $25 million in funding, but the amount increased after the round increased in popularity.
