Exclusive | How Block.one founder Brendan Blumer went from magic swords to the world's biggest initial coin offering
Hong Kong resident, 31, behind two-year-old start-up raised US$4 billion in 2016 ICO
Brendan Blumer was 15 when he started his first business selling magic swords and armour used in online role-playing games like World of Warcraft. Now 31, the Hong Kong permanent resident has become a dragon-slayer in his own right after raising the world’s biggest initial coin offering.
That Blumer and his two-year-old start-up Block.one is able to raise about US$4 billion in an ICO – similar to an initial public offering except instead of shares the investors get tokens backed by the cryptocurrency – is testament to the white-hot interest among investors in digital currencies and their underlying blockchain technology.
To put the ICO into perspective, Meituan Dianping, the on-demand meal-delivery giant that delivers takeaway food to most cities in China, raised about the same amount in Hong Kong earlier this month.
In an exclusive interview at the South China Morning Post’s offices in Times Square, Hong Kong, Blumer talked about how the Cayman Island-incorporated venture came about, though he remained tight-lipped about the exact plans for the war chest the company has amassed from the ICO.
Blumer said he started to invest in cryptocurrencies around 2016 and subsequently developed interest in the underlying blockchain technology.