Investment Giant KKR Puts Portion of Private Equity Fund on Avalanche Blockchain

American investment firm KKR & Co. (KKR) has made its Health Care Strategic Growth Fund available on the Avalanche blockchain.

KKR, which had $471 billion in assets under management at the end of 2021, is working with digital asset management platform Securitize Capital, which will handle onboarding of new investors, according to a press release.

Individuals will be able to invest in KKR's health-care fund through a tokenized feeder fund on the Avalanche blockchain provided by Securitize.

Traditional finance companies are still entering the crypto industry this year despite a market downturn that has seen the price of bitcoin slump by more than 50%. Wall Street clearing house DTCC launched a private blockchain last month, while venture capitalist firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) doubled down on its crypto stance by establishing a fourth crypto fund worth $4.5 billion.

KKR said it hopes that the tokenized health-care fund will provide a more accessible investment vehicle to individual investors.

“With its ability to digitize operational inefficiencies and increase ease of use for individual investors, blockchain technology has the potential to play an important role in the future of private markets,” Dan Parant, managing director and co-head of U.S. private wealth at KKR, said in the statement.

“This new fund is an important step toward democratizing access to private equity investments by delivering more efficient access to institutional quality products," said Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo.