Delphi Digital forms $5 million NFT investment ‘syndicate’

Delphi Digital — a multiservice cryptocurrency investment, consulting and research firm — announced on Friday the launch of "Delphi InfinNFT," a new investment wing focused on nonfungible tokens and the NFT ecosystem.

Per a post on Twitter, the fund will invest upward of $5 million into “NFT marketplaces, DAOs, social tokens, fractionalization, NFT infrastructure, and any other new developments that may arise during the syndicate's investment cycle,” and the team will be bolstered by noted NFT collector “Gmoney.”

0/ Our team is thrilled to announce the launch of the world's first on-chain NFT fund on @SyndicateDAO called "Delphi INFINFT" run by our team and @gmoneyNFT Backers include @IDEOVC + other NFT pioneers like @gabusch, @Jihoz_Axie, @AndrewSteinwold, etc!https://t.co/FI8OhDAUh2

— Delphi Digital (@Delphi_Digital) May 14, 2021

An NFT-focused fund might not be a surprise, given how the use case has been a banner carrier, bringing blockchain into public consciousness. However, NFT prices can be notoriously volatile and uncorrelated to the wider crypto markets. 

Delphi co-founder Yan Liberman told Cointelegraph that the company is prepared to weather any downturns, however.

“Our fund has a very long term focus so the volatility is less of a concern. We actually think of it opportunistically in that it can favorable price entries,” he said.

Additionally, the company’s investment processes won’t have to change to accommodate the focus on a new asset class.

“Our investment process is very similar to the one we employ at Delphi Ventures. Begins with heavy due diligence and ends with a firm wide investment committee where we leverage our spectrum of expertise to have an exhaustive discussion about the project and landscape. The investment philosophy is also similar in that we're looking to support the best founders and ideas with everything Delphi has to offer.”

The firm’s claim to being the “first” on-chain NFT-focused fund did ruffle some pink feathers, however. As multiple members were quick to point out in Delphi’s Twitter thread, Flamingo DAO was the first DAO formed as an NFT investment group, and it has been making headlines with high-priced purchases in recent months.

However, aside from the spat over superlatives, it’s unlikely that there will be competition between the groups. While many of Flamingo DAO’s investments thus far have been in NFTs directly, InfinNFT looks to focus on infrastructure, though Liberman noted that “We plan on investing in both NFT infrastructure and directly into NFTs themselves.”

Delphi is no stranger to NFTs, having announced an investment in several rare “mystic” Axies, NFT-backed critters from the Axie Infinity game, last year. Liberman told Cointelegraph that the fund is excited about not just gaming NFTs but the broad range of use cases that haven’t even reached production.

“Axies, and gaming NFT's in general, are just one subsector of NFTs that we're incredibly bullish on. We believe the majority of applications haven't been thought of yet, which is what makes us incredibly excited to launch this fund.”