SCB 10X, Siam Commercial Bank’s venture capital arm, said it has launched a $50 million fund to invest in blockchain, digital asset and decentralized finance (DeFi) startups.

• The fund will focus on global early- and growth-stage companies that will shape the next generation of financial services and digital systems, the venture capital arm of Thailand's oldest bank announced.
• The firm's chief venture and investment officer, Mukaya Panich, said blockchain-enabled financial services have the potential to spur financial inclusion, enable open access and encourage innovation
• SCB 10X has previously invested in Ripple and BlockFi, a cryptocurrency lending platform with $1.5 billion in crypto assets on its books. SCB 10X joined the Series C funding round in August 2020 along with Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures and Winklevoss Capital.
• More recently, the venture capital firm invested in Alpha Finance, a DeFi platform developing an ecosystem focused on products that can interoperate across different blockchains.

See also: BlockFi Raises $50M From Universities, NBA Star, Others as Crypto Lending Soars