Internationally known Barbadian technology entrepreneur Gabriel Abed has been appointed vice-chairman of a new US$1 billion cryptocurrency investment vehicle.
Abed, who served as Barbados’ first ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and has established or co-founded several businesses in the financial technology sector, is on board the new venture in his capacity as chairman of the Board at Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
He joins what is being called “a powerhouse team”, including former United States Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who joins Abed as a vicechair of the “special-purpose acquisition company” called M3-Brigade Acquisition V Corp.
Last week, Bloomberge
reported that Chinh Chu, a former executive at Blackstone, a well-known asset management firm, and Reeve Collins, the cofounder of Tether, a widely adopted stablecoin, are partnering to raise US$1 billion “for a listed crypto vehicle that aims to hoard a portfolio of digital assets”.
Reports are that the plan is for M3-Brigade Acquisition V Corp. to hold a diversified mix of tokens including Bitcoin, Ether and Solana.
Bloomberg noted that with fundraising ongoing, details of the initiative, including a renaming of the investment vehicle and a change to the US$1 billion target, may change.
These developments come after it was announced on May 27 that M3-Brigade Acquisition V Corp. closed a transaction in which MI7 Sponsor, LLC, and Collins purchased 7 187 500 Class B ordinary shares and 5 043 750 private placement warrants of M3-Brigade for US$6.46 million.
More attractive to investors
The statement announcing the deal said that “following the transactions, M3-Brigade intends to seek a business combination target in industries relating to digital assets [and] the company plans to change its name to CCRC Digital Assets Corp”.
The digital asset sector has become more attractive to investors since March
when US President Donald Trump signed an executive order “to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a US Digital Asset Stockpile, positioning the United States as a leader among nations in government digital asset strategy”.
The White House said: “The order creates a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve that will treat bitcoin as a reserve asset. It also established a US Digital Asset Stockpile, consisting of digital assets other than bitcoin owned by the Department of Treasury that was forfeited in criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings.
“Agencies must provide a full accounting of their digital asset holdings to the Secretary of the Treasury and the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets.
This Order ensures a strategic approach to managing digital assets under US control.
“The Executive Order begins to resolve the current disjointed handling of cryptocurrencies seized through forfeiture by, and scattered across, various federal agencies,” the White House added.
In its 2025 Institutional Investor Digital Assets Report, professional services firm EY (formerly Ernst & Young), joined Coinbase, an American cryptocurrency exchange, in surveying 352 institutional investors in the US, United Kingdom, Asia-Pacific, Africa, Latin America “to better understand how institutional investors think about digital assets”.
Researchers found that “as of January 2025, 86 per cent of surveyed institutional investors have exposure to digital assets, or plan to make digital asset allocations in 2025”.
EY and Coinbase “expect the positive tone and action from both the new US administration and regulatory bodies globally to accelerate an already expanding interest in digital assets”. (SC)
