Crypto VC: Token investing and the next bull run with Digital Wave Finance

cointelegraph.com:

Venture capital has been a key driver for myriad startups in the blockchain space. Founders know how competitive it can be to secure valuable VC funding that can keep the lights on and employees paid during the critical first days of a new project.

In a new interview series, Cointelegraph sits down with executives at some of the most active funds investing in the crypto space to understand their perspectives, hear about their successes and failures, and find out what gets them excited about a new project in the Web3 space.

This week, Cointelegraph spoke with Andrei Grachev, co-founder of crypto trading entity Digital Wave Finance (DWF) and managing partner of market maker and multistage Web3 investment firm DWF Labs. DWF Labs has been highly active since late 2022, having invested in the Telegram Open Network (TON), Orbs, Radix, Crypto GPT (now Layer AI) and others.

Cointelegraph: It feels like DWF Labs emerged from nowhere and started aggressively taking over the industry. Tell us more about the history of the fund and the background of the partners.

Andrei Grachev: DWF Labs started operating in late 2021, founded by experienced partners from DWF, a highly successful high-frequency trading entity that had been operating since 2018. We recognized the potential of blockchain technology and wanted to explore investment opportunities in the industry. After making several small investments and token allocations, we refined our investment strategy and risk tolerance. Since then, we have been actively investing in promising projects and providing long-term financial support on a regular basis.

CT: DWF Labs invests exclusively in tokens. Many players in the industry consider this approach to be market-making. Can you explain the