New Zealand Government Invests in Cryptos Platform Vimba

Callaghan Innovations, a government innovations fund, has invested $330,000 in the Auckland-based cryptocurrency savings and trading platform Vimba.

“This is a truly significant investment from Callaghan Innovation and a real show of faith in the future of this very exciting asset class,” said Vimba CEO Sam Blackmore in a Scoop press release.

The Vimba platform, which was formerly MyCryptoSaver, enables users to use the New Zealand dollar to purchase bitcoin and ethereum. Vimba currently has 5,616 users with almost $6.5m worth of bitcoin.

“The money will go towards new key features for our expanding service. We will use it to build secure multi-signature crypto wallets for our users and we’re also looking into expanding the range of cryptocurrencies available to them — beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum.”

There is an emphasis on the long-term, with Blackmore optimistic about the cryptos market. He is set on assisting bitcoin in reaching the market cap of gold.  

“We believe Bitcoin will at least reach the market cap of gold as it is a more efficient, more accessible, more secure version of that rare asset. For it to reach the market cap of gold, one Bitcoin would be worth around $600,000 — more than 60 times what it’s worth today.”