• Web 3 Equities will begin deploying capital in late March
  • Investments are listed in five categories: blockchain infrastructure, DeFi, DAOs, DApps and NFTs

Benjamin Cohen made “one of the biggest decisions” of his life last year — one that he remains “very confident in.” He left his full-time role at his family’s real estate firm to launch a Web3 investment fund, Cohen told Blockworks.  

“My jump into Web3 is basically on [this] premise,” Cohen, the managing partner and founder, said.

“I think it’s inevitable that blockchain technology and smart contract technology will become implemented in every single facet of our life. And we’re just at the beginning of it.”

Web 3 Equities is focused on digital asset investments — specifically pouring capital into “the future of Web3,” Cohen explained.

Investments are listed in five categories: blockchain infrastructure, decentralized finance (DeFi), decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), decentralized applications (DApps) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs.) 

“We’re investing across the entire ecosystem, so it gives investors exposure to [more than] one segment [of the market],” Cohen said.

He declined to name specific investments during an interview with Blockworks, but alluded to the types of protocols that the fund will “take significant positions in.”

“We’re not trying to arbitrage and buy bitcoin at $38,000 and sell it at $39,500,” Cohen said.

“We’re trying to identify projects, communities, protocols that serve a purpose in the Web3 ecosystem, that solve a problem using blockchain technology.”

The fund currently has $5 million assets under management — some of which comes from Cohen’s personal investments. Current investors include high-net-worth individuals, both crypto-native and newcomers to the space. 

Web 3 Equities does not take venture investments and aims to offer its investors more liquidity than other crypto funds.

“We’re structuring this like a hedge fund so after a certain amount and lockup period, investors will be able to have liquidity and recall their funds. I think that’s a differentiated value proposition,” Cohen said. 

Web 3 Equities will begin deploying capital in late March.

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  • Morgan Chittum is a New York-based reporter covering NFTs, the metaverse, play-to-earn gaming and other emerging Web3 tech for Blockworks. Previously she was a street reporter, covering crime at New York Daily News, and a media and journalism fellow at the Poynter Institute. Contact Morgan via email at [email protected]