Tennis player Serena Williams is an investor in crypto exchange Coinbase.
In a recent Instagram post, she revealed that in 2014 she launched Serena Ventures with the mission of “giving opportunities to founders across an array of industries”.
“Serena Ventures invests in companies that embrace diverse leadership, individual empowerment, creativity and opportunity. We have so many exciting things coming up!” she added.
The market cap of the venture’s portfolio is over $12 billion and it consists of 30+ companies. No details on how much has been invested in Coinbase or the round(s) involved.
Alex Ohanian
Williams is married to Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit and a high profile crypto advocate. Late last year, he argued that the bearish sentiment affecting the market was good for digital asset innovation.
He suggested this would eliminate distracting elements and thus allow those working on crypto and blockchain projects to increase their focus and produce better results.
Reddit users lash out
His comments immediately drew some harsh replies on Reddit.
A user identified as nestrong told him to “tell your wife to pump our shitcoins bro!!” SuperNewk shot back with, “says billionaire who doesn’t have to feed kids at home. Most of us are torn between adding 1-2 more Bitcoin or putting food on the table or buying diapers”. (Factoid: Ohanian has a son with Williams).
Others, however, defended Ohanian’s statement. Jhawks wrote: “He said it was good for crypto innovation, not for bag holders. Only projects that are taking steps towards actual usage and adoption will get serious attention in a tough market, whereas shitcoins that were created simply as money grabs were mooning in the bull market.”
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. We do not give advice on financial products.