Morgan Creek Blockchain Exec: Regulators Will Mandate Tokenized Equity
*By Jacqueline Corba*
The hedge fund Morgan Creek is betting on the power of blockchain to digitize company equity.
The fund's blockchain group is focused on converting traditional paper equity into tokens. This can create a more open free market for investors, and can help regulators, said Anthony Pompliano, a partner at Morgan Creek Blockchain Capital.
"The blockchain actually manages not only the equity or the capital stack but also all transactions with that equity," he said in an interview with Cheddar.
Morgan Creek Capital Management will invest $500 million in blockchain technology. The hedge fund [acquired Pompliano's Full Tilt Capital](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-27/morgan-creek-acquires-full-tilt-capital-for-blockchain-push) in March, two months after Full Tilt went all in on cryptocurrency.
"In the digital world what ends up happening is the protocol in which these transactions are happening has the rules written into them, so the rules are written in software and would not let me make a non compliant trade," Pompliano said. "We actually think that the regulators, at some point in the future, are going to mandate that every company in the world tokenizes their equity."
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/why-hedge-funds-are-betting-big-on-blockchain).
AdTheorent just the latest company to go public via a SPAC. The company specializes in digital advertising, using AI and machine learning as a tool to move marketing forward. AdTheorent to close its SPAC merger with MCAP Acquisition today and will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol ADTH. CEO Jim Lawson spoke with Cheddar ahead of the move.
Although still early in development, blockchain technology, Web3, also known as Web 3.0 has been getting a lot of attention from some top tech names lately. Web3 is based on blockchain technology, which powers NFT’s and cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. With Web3, users would ideally control their own data, rather than have it be controlled by a few large companies. But, Tesla CEO Elon musk isn't buying into Web3 just yet, tweeting over the weekend that the decentralized iteration of the internet seems more like a marketing "buzzword" right now than reality. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey also chiming in to the conversation, expressing doubt over whether or not Web3 would actually be decentralized if ownership still belonged to venture capital firms. Parker McCurley, co-founder & CEO of Decent Labs explains the significance of Web3 catching the eye of the tech giants, and what Web3 could mean for the future of the internet.
Carlo and Baker cover the heartening news on the Covid front ahead of the holiday, plus President Biden punting student loan repayments again, a new space telescope and Love, Hate, Ate: Christmas Eve Eve Edition!
This year's worldwide semiconductor shortage limited the supply of everything from new cars to smartphones; and now, many in the chip industry expect the shortage to continue deep into 2022, and maybe even 2023. Semiconductor senior research analyst for Robert W. Baird & Co., Tristan Gerra, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Pavel Bains, the Executive Producer of MixMob and CEO of Bluzelle, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to elaborate on an opinion piece he wrote for CoinDesk in which he compares the cultural significance of crypto to hip hop in the 1990s.
