Binance and some crypto-friendly VC funds are rushing to join Musk’s bid for Twitter
May 6, 2022, 13:42 IST
- Crypto-friendly firms make up almost 30% of funding commitments worth just over $7 billion that Musk received.
- Oracle founder Larry Ellison has also committed $1 billion to Musk’s cause.
- Crypto exchange Binance is one of the largest investors financing Musk in his buyout of Twitter.
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Crypto friendly companies, including exchanges and big venture funds, are joining billionaire Elon Musk’s bid to buy social media platform Twitter – a sign that Tesla and SpaceX owner’s promises for the platform include a significant push on crypto-related services.Musk has been a vocal supporter of cryptocurrencies, including meme-based currencies like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu. According to a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Musk has received financing commitments worth $7.139 billion from crypto exchange Binance and VC funds Sequoia Capital and Andreesen Horowitz (AH), among others, for his acquisition of Twitter.
Both Sequoia and AH are known supporters of the web3 ecosystem that includes cryptocurrencies. According to the SEC filing, they have committed $800 million and $400 million, respectively. Binance, on the other hand, has committed $500 million, making it a combined total of $1.7 billion from these three companies.
Fidelity Investments, whose chief executive officer Abigail Johnson, recently faced questioning from senators on crypto-based 401(k) plans, has also committed $300 million to Musk’s plans. This brings the crypto-based funds total to a whopping $2 billion, and almost 30% of the funding Musk’s SEC filing disclosed.
The full split of the funding, according to Musk’s SEC filing, is below:
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| Equity Investor | Aggregate Equity Commitment |
| A.M. Management & Consulting | $25,000,000 |
| AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (a16z) | $400,000,000 |
| Aliya Capital Partners LLC | $360,000,000 |
| BAMCO, Inc. (Baron) | $100,000,000 |
| Binance | $500,000,000 |
| Brookfield | $250,000,000 |
| DFJ Growth IV Partners, LLC | $100,000,000 |
| Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC | $316,139,386 |
| Honeycomb Asset Management LP | $5,000,000 |
| Key Wealth Advisors LLC | $30,000,000 |
| Lawrence J. Ellison Revocable Trust | $1,000,000,000 |
| Litani Ventures | $25,000,000 |
| Qatar Holding LLC | $375,000,000 |
| Sequoia Capital Fund, L.P. | $800,000,000 |
| Strauss Capital LLC | $150,000,000 |
| Tresser Blvd 402 LLC (Cartenna) | $8,500,000 |
| VyCapital | $700,000,000 |
| Witkoff Capital | $100,000,000 |
To be sure, at least one of these investors has plans for Twitter that are somewhat similar to Musk’s own. On April 14, Binance chief executive Changpeng Zhao (CZ) tweeted that Twitter should be privatised and decentralized. He also said that the platform should issue a token and charge for verifications to reduce spam and scam.
In a statement on Thursday, CZ had also said that the company is “excited” to “realize” Musk’s vision for Twitter. “We hope to be able to play a role in bringing social media and web3 together and broadening the use and adoption of crypto and blockchain technology,” he said.
The SEC filing also discloses investments from Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Ellison has committed to invest a billion dollars in Musk’s buyout of Twitter.
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