As a “leading” player in crypto, Binance claims that it understands that they have a responsibility “to lead the charge when it comes to protecting consumers and rebuilding the industry.” That is why Binance has established the Industry Recovery Initiative (IRI), “a new co-investment opportunity for organizations eager to support the future of Web3.”
Key Facts about the IRI:
The IRI is “not an investment fund.”
To access investment opportunities that come through the IRI application process, “each participant is required to set aside committed capital (it can be in Stablecoins, or other tokens – discretionary to each participant) within public addresses to ensure transparency.”
Each participant including Binance will “review investment opportunities and make investment decisions independently of each other, on a deal-by-deal basis.”
As noted in the update:
“We recognize that traditional financial institutions may want to participate but are unable to send money to a public address. We are open to exploring other deal structures under the broader theme of the IRI with such institutions who may be keen.”
The team at Binance added:
“We anticipate this initiative will last about six months and will be flexible on the investment structure — token, fiat, equity, convertible instruments, debt, credit lines, etc — as we expect individual situations to require tailored solutions.”
As explained in the update, each participant “can withdraw any remaining unused funds from public addresses at the end of the initiative.”
Initially, Binance will “commit USD 1 billion to IRI-themed investment opportunities with an intent to ramp up that amount to USD 2 billion in the near future if the need arises.”
So far, Jump Crypto, Polygon Ventures, Aptos Labs, Animoca Brands, GSR, Kronos and Brooker Group have also “committed to participating with an initial aggregate commitment of around USD 50 million, and we expect more participants to join soon.”
The public address for Binance’s initial commitment of BUSD 1 billion is: 0x043a80999cEe3711D372FB878768909fbE7F71E6
Other participants’ addresses will be “released over the next week.”
The announcement also mentioned:
“We have already received around 150 applications from companies seeking support under the IRI. Each co-investor within the IRI will have the opportunity to review potential deals and decide for themselves whether they wish to participate. We expect some deals will be invested in unilaterally and others will be co-investments with all or some of the IRI participants.”
The mandate of this new effort is “to support the most promising and highest quality companies and projects built by the best technologists and entrepreneurs that, through no fault of their own, are facing significant, short term, financial difficulties.” What makes this initiative unique is “the collaborative approach to restoring confidence in Web3.”
As stated in a blog post:
“Collectively, we will be looking for projects characterized by 1) innovation and long-term value creation, 2) a clearly delineated and viable business model, and 3) a laser focus on risk management.”
The update further noted:
“Aside from funding support, we plan to provide founders and projects with comprehensive support – from formation, technical execution, fundraising, and more – so that they can emerge and grow stronger from the crypto winter.”