Yesterday Italian asset manager Azimut announced it invested €105 million ($113m) in the debt of Alps Blockchain, which provides Bitcoin mining infrastructure mainly using renewable energy. Azimut is an investor in digital asset bank Sygnum and is active in tokenization efforts.
Azimut’s Alps Blockchain investment was via a five year guaranteed bond using a Luxembourg special purpose vehicle.
The startup’s name comes from the Italian alps where it located its first mining farms to take advantage of hydroelectric power. Hence, the company claims it’s possible to reduce mining energy consumption when the grid needs more power and increase usage when there’s excess hydroelectric power. It now has mining farms in Paraguay and Ecuador using a very similar model, plus another in Oman.
During the last three years the number of mining machines installed has grown from 2,500 to over 15,000. The company had revenues of €697,000 in 2020 which grew to €17.3 million in 2022 and €43.6 million ($47m) last year with a positive EBITDA.
“We are thrilled to strengthen our relationship with Alps Blockchain, whose objective is to make mining more sustainable, and to offer our customers the opportunity to participate in the growth of an all-Italian excellence that is rapidly establishing itself around the world,” said Giorgio Medda, CEO and Global Head of Asset Management & Fintech of the Azimut Group. He added that the asset manager has invested €350 million since 2022 in global and sustainable energy transition.
Azimut embraces DLT
Meanwhile, Azimut has embraced multiple tokenization solutions. FundsDLT, the platform which Deutsche Börse’s Clearstream acquired, originally launched with Azimut Investments. Azimut also participated in Allfunds Blockchain initiatives. It was part of the go-live of Allfunds’s FAST solution, which enables data sharing between funds industry participants. Plus, it partnered with Allfunds and BNP Paribas to tokenize units of one of its funds.
