Chris Deng Chao is managing director of HashKey Capital, a Hong Kong-based institutional asset manager investing exclusively in blockchain technology and digital assets.
HashKey Capital is part of HashKey Group, a spin-off from Chinese conglomerate Wanxiang. Since 2015, the unit has closed two funds and now has a portfolio of more than 110 companies across 14 countries. It is currently aiming to raise $600m for its third fund, according to recent reports by Bloomberg, with the goal of creating the largest crypto fund in Asia.
The unit’s first two funds have reportedly yielded an 11x return on investment to date, with HashKey Capital’s early involvement in the Ethereum ecosystem one of the main underlying reasons.
Recent investments by the unit include involvement in the $60m seed round for cross-chain router protocol developer Multichain and participation in the $100m initial coin offering (ICO) by Braintrust, a blockchain-powered freelancer marketplace.
HashKey Capital’s portfolio also includes Blockdaemon, a blockchain infrastructure services businesses which was valued at $3.25bn following a $207m fundraising round in January 2022 featuring the SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Tiger Global.
Chao sits on HashKey Capital’s investment committee alongside Dr Xiao Feng, vice-chairman and CEO of China Wanxiang Holdings as well as chairman and CEO of Wanxiang Blockchain, and Michel Lee, the executive president of HashKey Group.
Chao has over a decade’s experience in the asset management and fintech sectors. Having previously served as a senior manager at Bosera Asset Management, China Wanxiang Holding and DataYes, he is also an early founding member of Wanxiang Blockchain Labs. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Hong Kong.
