In brief
- Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian discussed crypto in a new interview.
- He said the increased developer interest around blockchains signals a “crypto spring.”
- Ohanian also spoke of the role of crypto in his own investments.
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Reddit co-founder and executive chairman Alexis Ohanian has long been an outspoken proponent of cryptocurrency. But how much crypto does Ohanian, whose personal fortune is estimated at $70 million, hold?
While Ohanian has not specified the extent of his holdings, he said in an interview with Yahoo Finance, published yesterday, that he’s confident with the crypto makeup of his portfolio.
“I’ve had a percentage of my wealth in crypto for quite some time now and I still feel pretty good about it,” he said. “I don’t want to change too much of it, because I do think it’s a prudent hedge.”
Through his venture capital firm, Initialized Capital, Ohanian has invested in crypto startups—most notably as an early investor in Coinbase. More recently, the firm led a $5 million investment round in Horizon Blockchain Games, which develops the card battler, SkyWeaver.
“It’s interesting to see OGs of Wall Street now getting into crypto and buying Bitcoin and the like,” he added, perhaps referencing the recent Bitcoin advocacy by legendary investor Paul Tudor Jones. “It’s increasingly showing that it’s here to stay.”
He characterized all of the recent momenta around blockchain and the industry as a “crypto spring.”
“We really do see a crypto spring right now in terms of top-tier engineers, product developers, designers, building real solutions on top of the blockchain,” said Ohanian. “We’re seeing really top-tier talent building on this infrastructure, and that to me is the best signal of long-term value creation.”
Reddit may help create millions of crypto traders itself thanks to its newly-introduced Community Points, which are rewarded for quality posting on the site.
The Ethereum-based ERC-20 tokens can be spent on features on the site or transferred between Ethereum wallets. Only two of Reddit’s subreddits (or communities) have implemented the initiative thus far, comprising about two million total potential users—and Reddit keeps 20% of the doled-out tokens.
Just imagine the potential benefits for both Reddit and Ohanian once the Community Point tokens are rolled out across the site’s entire 400-million-strong user base.