Today Siam Commercial Bank subsidiary SCB 10X said it recently set up a $50 million venture fund for startups in the blockchain, digital asset, DeFi space.
“In the financial industry, blockchain-enabled financial services have the potential to broaden financial inclusion, facilitate open access, and encourage innovation,” said SCB 10X Chief Venture and Investment Officer Mukaya (Tai) Panich.
“We see strong parallels between traditional finance and blockchain-enabled financial services businesses. Blockchain technology can make financial services more innovative, interoperable, traceable, borderless, and transparent.”
Eight months ago, we reported that SCB 10X was one of the main investors in an $80 million Series C round for Thai fintech firm SYNQA. The startup is better known for its Omise payment solutions and the blockchain-based OMG Network, formerly called OmiseGO.
“With our new $50m Blockchain, DeFi, and Digital Assets dedicated VC fund, we will invest across the capital stack in innovative and promising startups in blockchain infrastructure, blockchain innovative applications, and decentralized finance globally, to better prepare the bank for future disruption,” said Mukaya.
Siam Commercial Bank SCB already has a successful track record within the enterprise blockchain space. SCB subsidiary Digital Ventures worked with Accenture on a hugely successful Procure-to-Pay solution, which Siam Cement Group and others have used. The bank also developed a Ripple powered app for cross border payments.
