New CEO 👇 We have a new President and CEO
Hello there,
My name is Dominic Frisby, and I am writing to introduce myself as the new President and CEO of Cypherpunk Holdings. Here is the news release announcing my appointment, in case you didn't see it.
Cypherpunk Holdings is a Canada-listed company, listed on the CSE under the ticker HODL, set up to invest in bitcoin and privacy technologies. We called ourselves Cypherpunk after a renegade group of computer coders from the 1990s. You can read about them here.
If you don't already know me, I'm a writer and investor from the UK and, among other things, back in 2014, I wrote the first book on bitcoin from a recognised publisher. I've always been incredibly excited about the possibilities of this space and so I see coming into Cypherpunk Holdings at this time as a terrific opportunity. I've been a director of the company for some 18 months now, and I'm delighted to be taking over as CEO.
Privacy has never been more important than in this digital age of the internet. We believe this issue of privacy is going to be one of the most important narratives in technology over the next decade, and that is why my fellow directors and I have set up this company in the way that we have.
Cypherpunk Holdings is a vehicle by which ordinary investors, whether at the institutional or retail level, can get exposure this niche space. Privacy tech might be bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, it might be wallets, VPN providers, conference calling or messaging apps. There are all sorts of opportunities and the Investment Committee - myself, Moe Adham and Jon Matonis - are evaluating opportunities all the time, though our criteria and rules are very strict.
At the moment the portfolio is heavily allocated to bitcoin. We took a long look at other privacy coins early this year, and we continue to follow them, but we decided that the network effect of bitcoin, compared to other coins, combined with the possibility of adding privacy layers, meant bitcoin was the most likely victor in the race. Opinions change of course, but that is our current position. So far this decision has been validated by the fact that the ratio between bitcoin and other privacy coins, such as zcash, beam and grin, has gone in bitcoin's favour. We do also own some monero, a privacy coin we like. At time of writing we own 2,749. Roughly 15% of our coin allocation is in monero.
We also have positions in Samourai Wallet (a privacy wallet), Chia (a decentralised blockchain based on proof of space from BitTorrent founder Bram Cohen) and, of course, there is Swedish data center Hydro 66, an investment which pre-dated my arrival at the company.
We have a multitude of things to be working on - evaluating further opportunities, monitoring existing investments, redesigning the website and promoting the company. We believe what we are doing is unique; that we have an exceptional edge in Jon Matonis, Moe Adham and my access to quality, early stage deals and we believe that the privacy story is going to get much bigger.
This time in three years I hope to be talking to you as CEO of a much bigger company!
Until next time.
With best wishes
Dominic Frisby
President and CEO