Claudio, you started your career in investment banking and discovered blockchain in 2016. Can you give us a brief digest of the past 7 years and what some of the most important milestones were for you?

I actually learned about Bitcoin in 2009 when I stumbled over a news article on the internet, which left me puzzled and at the same time very curious to learn more. Ever since, I kept a keen interest in Bitcoin and this new thing called Blockchain. However, it was only 7 years later, when I moved from investment banking to FinTech, that I deeply dived into the technology and its ecosystem. It was then that I learned about Ethereum and smart contracts. I could only grasp the true potential of Blockchain technology once I interacted directly with a smart contract. For me, the penny dropped at that very moment and ever since I’ve been fascinated by this technology, its truly open ecosystems and all the individuals, teams and companies building valuable applications and use cases on it.

Tell us about DCAP; how did it come about?

In 2018 I co-founded the i.AM Lab, a Web3 studio that develops solutions (mainly decentralised applications) on Ethereum and public EVM chains for financial institutions and corporates, who wanted to experiment and develop first pilots with this at the time still rather new and unknown technology. As 2018 was a bear market in crypto, it was challenging to source projects and mandates. On the other side, due to the lack of interest in Blockchain at the time, we had the opportunity to hire great talent in the field of Web3 software engineering and technology. When the market – and with it the interest for blockchain – came back, we were well positioned with i.AM Lab having a deep Web3 skillset, expertise, and experience in the team.

Due to i.AM Lab’s in-depth involvement in many of the newest Tokenization-, DeFi- and NFT-projects, individuals as well as companies from our network, sought our advice on how to invest in digital assets and in the evolving megatrend of Web3 in general. This is when we started to entertain the idea of launching an investment manager dedicated to Web3. Busy with the many projects we ran at the time at the Lab, this idea remained just an idea. That changed when we got in contact with three institutional partners at the end of 2021 who heard about our plans and wanted to partner with us. It was then that it became clear to us that we have everything at hand to bring this vision to life. And so, we did. We embarked on this journey of building a leading asset manager for Web3-related investment solutions.

Long story short, we launched DCAP in July 2022 and have built the team, our investment thesis and strategy as well as our model portfolio since. We kept a laser focus on developing an institutional-grade product that serves a broad range of institutional and professional investors, on getting fully licensed as a portfolio manager by FINMA and to onboard with prime service providers and partners.

Can you tell us a little more about DCAP’s view on Web3 and the opportunities it presents for investors?

We see Web3 as the next generation of the Internet. It’s decentralised and builds on blockchain technology .

As experienced with the previous evolutions of the Internet (Web1 and Web2) DCAP expects the impact of Web3 on the economy, on businesses, and on society overall to be similarly transformative, resulting in significant levels of disruption, value creation and equivalent – if not even higher - return opportunities for investors. Our purpose is to enable investors to seize this wide range of investment opportunities presented by the megatrend of Web3.

To give you some examples: the DCAP team identified high-potential verticals in the Web3 ecosystem, like Web3 gaming and decentralised social media, that are both in the very early stage of their evolution and potentially offer interesting multiples to investors. Other areas where we see superior growth are decentralised finance and digital collectibles. Finally, Web3 infrastructure is also a vertical to watch closely, with Blockchain and AI continuing to accelerate demand for high-performance computing technologies.

So, who is DCAP? Can you share a few words about the DCAP team?

To match our view that the value creation from Web3 will be spread broadly across various sectors and asset classes, we have built a team accordingly, with very diverse backgrounds and skill sets. Our investment team counts 8 members including seasoned investment professionals who know how to build and manage an institutional-grade investment solution, native Web3 experts, engineers who have been engaged with Blockchain since the early days, and experienced economists. All united by a shared passion for Web3.

As you know, with our last question, we always like to shed some light on the more personal facet of the DCAP team members. Even as a CEO, you are not spared this question. Where and how do you spend your time away from DCAP and your demanding job?

Family and Friends really.  If I find time, I like to be outdoors, to work out or read a book. However, often I find myself in front of a screen exploring the latest Web3 projects or learning a few lines of code.