Brazil, India Lead Emerging Markets For Crypto Investment Opportunities, Deus X CEO Tim Grant Says

Emerging markets like Brazil, India, and other Latin American countries present the greatest opportunities for institutional crypto investors due to their rapidly growing economies and increasing crypto adoption, said Tim Grant, CEO of Deus X Capital.

In an interview with Benzinga, he highlighted regions with significant GDP growth, Grant pointed to Latin America and India as key areas for investment, while noting challenges in markets like Africa where expertise is critical.

"India is very interesting—we have a portfolio company already operating there," Grant said, noting the country's climb in global GDP rankings and its sheer market size. "That's been a relatively closed ecosystem, so it's interesting."

Latin America, meanwhile, is firmly on Deus X Capital's radar.

"Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina—all really interesting," Grant said. "Deus X Pay really should operate there."

He suggested the firm is actively considering deploying people and capital in the region, highlighting a mix of economic volatility, demand for stable on-ramps, and early-stage infrastructure as key draws.

Grant's comments come as Deus X Capital, a family-managed investment firm, continues to expand its crypto-focused portfolio.

The firm operates across three buckets: legacy businesses (foreign exchange, software, hardware, and real estate, comprising half its assets), a venture capital portfolio targeting crypto's institutionalization, and a venture-building unit that has launched four companies, including Alpha Lab 40 (a prop trading unit managing $200 million in crypto), Solstice Labs (developing a yield-bearing stablecoin, USX, on Solana SOL/USD), Cor Prime (a regulated lending entity), and Deus X Pay (a B2B crypto on-off ramp).

The CEO's optimism about emerging markets aligns with Deus X's strategy to capitalize on the intersection of crypto, institutional investment, and regulation.

Grant highlighted the firm's plans to launch USX with $100 million in total value locked (TVL) this month, alongside managing $1 billion in staked Ethereum.

"We're actually in the process of launching something called USX, which is an Athena-like yield-bearing stablecoin… we anticipate we're going to put 100 million of TVL ourselves into it," he said.

On corporate Bitcoin adoption, Grant acknowledged the trend of companies like Strategy and Tesla holding Bitcoin but cautioned about risks.

Also Read: Cantor Fitzgerald, Wall Street Companies Will Lower Crypto Lending Costs, SALT CEO Says

"This whole Bitcoin treasury company vibe feels like it has a certain window of time," he said, noting potential systemic risks if markets face a downturn.

Deus X is considering a significant Bitcoin treasury vehicle in Europe, aiming to be the largest of its kind, but Grant emphasized careful risk management due to MicroStrategy's exposure to margin calls.

Grant also expressed optimism about the U.S. Genius Act, stating it could unlock conservative institutional capital.

"It will allow for more capital from relatively conservative players to come off the table," he said, predicting a market boost.

However, he highlighted regulatory gaps, particularly the lack of global harmonization and challenges in regulating DeFi, which he sees as either fully unregulated or not truly DeFi if regulated.

"The biggest gap is this DeFi… there is no middle ground," he said.

Regarding real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, Grant was skeptical, citing liquidity challenges.

"Tokenization is nothing without liquidity. If you can't get a price on it, if you can't buy and sell it, the fact that it's tokenized doesn't make any difference," he said, predicting it will take years to gain traction.

On layer-2 (L2) infrastructure, he foresaw both consolidation and specialization, citing Solana’s partnership with R3 as a sign of evolving public-private blockchain solutions.

Grant dismissed many on-chain AI projects as "rubbish," comparing them to early blockchain hype, but saw value in niche applications like Deus X's portfolio company APEX:E3, which serves global asset managers.

He also predicted DeFi growth will rely on institutional adoption rather than user experience improvements.

"The way money is going to make its way in is… through the big asset managers and the wealth management platforms," he said.

Finally, Grant was bullish on SEC approval for Solana and XRP ETFs, though less certain about Dogecoin.

"I think they will… feels like that's inevitable," he said, noting ETFs would enhance liquidity and enable structured products, but alone are insufficient to drive massive investment flows.

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