SkyBridge and NAX Announce Groundbreaking Partnership to Accelerate the Growth of Decentralized Applications on Algorand

Initiative to focus on new financial applications across North America and the Middle East‍

New York, NY, Sept 13, 2021 -- NAX and SkyBridge Capital today announced a partnership providing an array of Algorand-based services, digital applications and Institutional investment opportunities to catalyze adoption of Algorand primarily across North America and the Middle East. In November 2020, SkyBridge became the first ‘40 Act Fund and Fund of Hedge Funds to allocate capital to Bitcoin, and continues to be an institutional pioneer in blockchain and digital assets. The cross-disciplinary strategic partnership will start with a dedicated fund between SkyBridge, NAX, and Algorand, and a groundbreaking initiative called UNLOX.

UNLOX, with SkyBridge’s Anthony Scaramucci as its chairman, will become a core infrastructure to launch at-scale DeFi ventures, capital raising, and a platform for institutions to securitize their assets over the blockchain. This will include traditional financial services assets like real property, corporate securities and venture capital, and will also include art, NFTs and other rare alternative assets. Algorand will be used as the protocol of this platform, with NAX providing commercial infrastructure and SkyBridge the institutional infrastructure.

Algorand is purpose-built from the ground up. Solving for the blockchain trilemma, it powers the future of finance as traditional and decentralized models converge into FutureFi: a unified system that is inclusive, reliable, frictionless, and secure. With unique Layer-1 standards, approach to smart contracts, and interoperability frameworks, Algorand enables DeFi organizations to leverage the core principles and value of decentralized technology to define and create new models for economic exchange. It is carbon negative and it’s ecosystem is rapidly expanding with over 800 organizations building on Algorand and more than 30,000 developers engaged with robust resources for building the next generation of decentralized applications.

NAX brings corporate infrastructure, enabling UNLOX ventures to launch at-scale. The initial set of ventures include a BNPL solution, a digital asset wallet and commerce engine, and a collateralized art lending and fractionalization platform, all backed by industry leaders. NAX conservatively estimates that these will augment Algorand’s user base with millions of new wallets by 2023.

Jeff Schumacher, CEO at NAX, added, “Algorand’s feature rich, high performance platform has unlimited potential to improve efficiency across new markets and ecosystems - especially given the imminent arrival of the AVM (Algorand Virtual Machine) smart contracts and the next wave of DeFi applications.”

SkyBridge is raising a series of funds; the first fund will be targeted and capped at $250mm. The goal is to provide institutions with access to these unique decentralized finance opportunities. The firm is planning a six city roadshow to further underscore why SkyBridge believes that Algorand will be a core protocol of the future. It’s sharia compliant, it is already empowering national, corporate and individual initiatives and it is disrupting sports and gaming.

SkyBridge, founded in 2005, is a $7BN alternative asset manager with over $600MM in crypto assets. It is also the originator of the internationally lauded thought leadership conference SALT (SkyBridge Alternatives). “We are impressed by Algorand’s technology, team and approach to empowering an inclusive and decentralized financial system,” said Anthony Scaramucci, founder and managing partner of SkyBridge. “Our mission is very much aligned with Algorand’s ethos and we look forward to bringing their technology to the forefront of regulated products, digital securities, currencies, payments and more.”