Dunhill Family Office Makes Bear Market Bet on Crypto

Piers Dunhill, the great-great-grandson of business icon Sir Alfred Dunhill, says now's the time to make a contrarian bet on crypto, just as the industry is languishing in the depths of a bear market.

“Now that no one is really investing in crypto and it’s hard to get money, that’s why I'm investing,” Dunhill said in an interview with CoinDesk. “I like to try and do the opposite of everyone else. The bear market sentiment right now is why I’m looking to invest.”

The Dunhill brand started out in 1902 selling accessories for the new motorcar craze and soon developed a pipe designed for use while driving. In the years that followed, Alfred Dunhill’s tobacconist enterprise prefigured the modern luxury goods market in its international ambitions.

Dunhill Ventures and the Dunhill Financial subsidiary are placing $3 million to begin with. The money is going into Lichtenstein-regulated VC Mocha Ventures, which is looking to close a 30 million euro ($32 million) fund, and plans to invest in areas like decentralized finance (DeFi) and the adoption of crypto as a payment rail in emerging markets like Africa.

Mocha Venture general partner Renato Brioni pointed out that his firm’s association with Dunhill goes beyond mere check size.

“The Dunhill family office has kindly invited Mocha Ventures into their inner circle of family offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai, where we will jointly work on closing the fund,” Brioni said in an interview with CoinDesk.