US digital asset fund, venture capital firm to raise $100 million for two new blockchain funds

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Alpha Sigma Capital, a U.S.-based digital asset fund, and Transform Ventures, a venture capital firm, will raise $100 million for two new funds focused on the blockchain and so-called decentralized Web 3.0 ventures, Alpha Sigma founder and Chief Executive Officer Enzo Villani said on Wednesday.

Transform Ventures, founded by crypto investor Michael Terpin, also merged some of its assets with Alpha Sigma's parent to form a new holding company called Alpha Transform Holdings. The latter will oversee the two new funds.

Terpin in 2019 won $75.8 million in a civil judgment against Nicholas Truglia, who was 21 years old at the time and part of a scheme that defrauded Terpin of digital currencies, according to court documents. Truglia along with other participants stole 3 million tokens from Terpin's cellphone account in early 2018.

The new Alpha Liquid digital assets fund was launched early this month, with an initial investment by Terpin, who made a personal investment in cash, bitcoin and ethereum of $2.65 million, with an option to invest an additional $2.9 million.

The second fund, a closed-end venture capital firm called the Aegean Fund, is still in the process of being established, Villani said.

These new funds have emerged as the cryptocurrency industry faces more intense scrutiny after the high-profile bankruptcy of crypto exchange FTX in November and the collapse of several other market players such as lender Celsius Network.

"The real growth of blockchains and the real growth of Web 3 are starting to happen," Villani told Reuters in an interview. Web 3.0 refers to the third iteration of the internet in which users interact with data through the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning, among others.

"A lot of things that are happening right now (in the crypto and blockchain space) may be challenging. But I think the industry would be going through these (challenges) anyway," he added.

(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Mark Porter)