"Hmm it seems that many firms are not interested in crypto, but why?"
A Chinese financial technology giant founded by Jack Ma, Ant Group backed away from participating in the volatile cryptocurrency market by pulling out of a $100 million investment in A&T Capital.
The surprise move comes after A&T co-founder Yu Jun resigned after being investigated following embezzlement at work while serving as an executive at the firm.
Founded in 2021, A&T Capital has become a major player in the crypto market having invested in several startups such as digital asset lender Matrixport and Ethereum (ETH) software maker ConsenSys.
However, Ant Group backed out of the $100 million investment when the crypto venture funding landscape was found to be drastically collapsing while digital asset startup funding declined to its lowest level since 2020.
The grim report leaves A&T Capital's future in limbo amid uncertainty over whether it will need new investors or be able to continue its operations unimpeded.
Even so, Ant Group which took a step back in crypto is reported to be shifting its progress target from digital assets to artificial intelligence (AI).
This is because Ant Group on September 8, 2023 launched a financial AI model and started testing for the application, where more than 130 other companies in China also introduced similar models.
