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Ayre Group–nChain CHF500 million deal set to boost European Tech blockchain and Web3 sectors

By Press Release | 03 August 2023

CHF500million deal believed to be the single largest enterprise blockchain IP investment to date

UPDATE – 31 August 2023: Ahead of the investment in nChain, Calvin Ayre commissioned an independent legal review by Buffone Law Group PLLC regarding the classification of digital assets with a specific focus on Bitcoin and its equivalents as securities. The review emphasised that only categorizing an asset as a “currency” does not exempt it from potentially being deemed a security.

Read the review in full here.

LONDON, UK – 2 August 2023: Ayre Group has finalised agreements to take a controlling interest in nChain, the global leader in blockchain and Web3 technology, in a 500 million Euro deal that will provide a huge boost to the blockchain and Web3 sectors. 

As Forbes recently observed, nChain’s patents “affect everything from the US$1 trillion cryptocurrency market to corporate implementations built by some of the largest companies in the world.” 

The deal, believed to be the single largest enterprise blockchain IP investment to date, will see Ayre Group invest up to a total of CHF500 million (€516 million/£443 million). The sum consists of an equity acquisition of nChain by the Ayre Group, an IP licensing deal for Ayre Ventures portfolio companies, and a line of credit. 

To date, nChain has been awarded nearly 800 technology patents with over 3,000 more presently awaiting approval, a wide-ranging intellectual property library representing the fundamental building blocks on which these next-generation internet products and services will be built. nChain’s IP is the DNA of the new internet, encompassing Web3 precursors, non-fungible tokens, smart contracts, and everything in between.

nChain has a heavyweight R&D team dedicated to turning its vast IP library into workable applications. nChain was included in the LexisNexis Innovation Momentum 2023: The Global Top 100 report of companies advancing innovative solutions to today’s challenges and laying the IP foundations for further breakthroughs. 

Ayre Group Founder Calvin Ayre commented on the deal: “For the better part of a decade, nChain and its London-based Chief Scientist Dr. Craig Wright have been quietly amassing a patent portfolio of unparalleled scope, literally the foundational elements of enterprise blockchain, AI and Web3. My goal is to accelerate the pace of nChain’s development and increase the commercial adoption of its extensive IP library.” 

Ayre is a vocal supporter of the BSV Blockchain but says nChain’s patents are “blockchain-agnostic. There isn’t a single blockchain or Web3 project out there that isn’t standing on the shoulders of nChain’s patent library—the earliest, largest, and highest quality collection in this space.”  

BSV’s combination of unbounded scaling capacity, ultra-low transaction fees and integration with IPv6 make it the only enterprise blockchain on which the internet of the future can be fully realized.

Stefan Matthews, nChain’s Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, added: “Calvin has been a strong advocate for nChain over the years. His decision to take a greater equity position in the nChain Group signifies his confidence in our business model and the value that we hold in our patent portfolio, software development and consulting services.”

Christen Ager-Hanssen, nChain´s Group CEO said: “nChain’s bold mission is to catalyze an unprecedented transformation, propelling the world from Web2 to Web3 at an astounding pace. This groundbreaking shift will not only revolutionize our lives but also shake the very foundations of industries far and wide. With Calvin’s unwavering dedication and visionary leadership, nChain is poised to spearhead the creation of a trillion-dollar ecosystem, leaving an indelible mark on the world, making it a better place for generations to come.”

About Ayre Group

Ayre Group are a global investment group that fund ground-breaking businesses and technologies. They invest in building ventures in real estate, blockchain technology, media, publishing, health & wellness and travel & leisure.

Ayre Group build and support technology and businesses that break down barriers to entry, democratize opportunity, and positively enhance people’s lives.

About nChain

nChain is a leading global blockchain technology company, offering software solutions, consulting services and IP licensing for clients in various industries looking to benefit from the security, transparency and scalability of the blockchain. Founded in 2015, with offices in Lichtenstein, Switzerland, the UK and Slovenia, nChain employs more than 240 staff, holds nearly 800 patents and is the developer of the Bitcoin SV Node software, Teranode, LiteClient and more. 

About Calvin Ayre

Calvin Ayre is a celebrated entrepreneur with an established track record of building successful internet-based businesses. In the mid-1990s, he was among the first to see online gambling’s breakout potential, leading to the launch of his market-leading Bodog brand and his appearance on the cover of the 2006 Forbes ‘Billionaires’ issue. Since leaving the gaming industry, he has focused on the Ayre Group, which invests in real estate, travel & leisure, blockchain/Web3 and media/publishing projects. Ayre Group also produces the London Blockchain Conference, the world’s largest annual Government and Enterprise Blockchain conference.  

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CoinGeek TV: Calvin Ayre talks BSV growth over the years and the future it holds

By Guest Contributor | 05 June 2022

This article was originally published on CoinGeek on July 5, 2022.

Calvin Ayre joined Kurt Wuckert Jr. on CoinGeek TV to discuss why he is still fighting for Satoshi’s vision despite the opposition and what he believes the future holds for Bitcoin SV.

Ayre is the founder of Ayre Ventures, a global investment group through which he has invested in many of today’s biggest Bitcoin ecosystem’s success stories. He is also the founder of CoinGeek. He joined Wuckert on Day 2 of the BSV Global Blockchain Convention in Dubai, which incidentally was also his birthday.

As Wuckert noted, the Dubai event is the biggest by far, attracting the highest number of attendees and online streamers. “I can feel the energy building,” Ayre stated while announcing that the next event will be in London, and he expects that to be even bigger.

“The difference with what’s going on here compared to when we started the conference series in 2018 is that right now people are talking about their products with actual performance metrics. Before, it was theoretical,” he said.

Calvin Ayre on CG TV Dubai with Kurt Wuckert Jr.

The event was the first in Dubai, a city that’s gained global recognition for its blockchain adoption and integration. Ayre believes that this recognition is deserved as Dubai has a government that’s always willing to invest in and experiment with new and emerging technologies. Dubai, and the wider United Arab Emirates, have especially embraced BSV blockchain because the focus is on utility and not hype.

Ayre has been in Bitcoin for several years now and he says the journey has been “frustrating in a good way.” He would want to see things move much faster, but he appreciates the Bitcoin ecosystem’s growth over the years.

On why his tune never changes regarding Bitcoin, the gambling industry pioneer told Wuckert that it’s “because no other product can do what this technology does…if you’re really trying to solve enterprise-size data problems, you’ve got no other choice. This is the only game in town.”

Bitcoin SV is technically superior to any other blockchain network in the market by a wide margin, the other blockchain networks are called hobby platforms. And since the detractors couldn’t fault BSV on technical or application grounds, they have focused on attacking the personalities, with Dr. Craig Wright being the prime target. However, Satoshi has an impressive record in court case, and this is positively impacting BSV.

“That’s helping change the narrative around this product because that cloud of misinformation targeted at the technology by attacking the person is lifting,” he said.

Calvin Ayre on CG TV Dubai

However, even more importantly, more and more people building on BSV are proving that ‘the technology works as advertised.’

BSV is an enterprise blockchain, and with this, it has attracted several companies handling enterprise-level data. This ranges from those solving supply chain and social media challenges to games that process millions of transactions a day. And as the ecosystem grows, there will be more synergy between different players with shared tools that make developing an application on Bitcoin SV way easier than it is today, Ayre noted.

This growth will continue and even accelerate in the coming years. Ayre expects BSV to attract more and more companies each year, telling Wuckert that while what BSV has achieved is quite notable, it’s quite a small ecosystem compared to the size of the industries we’re trying to revolutionize.

One of the biggest factors for growth in the coming years is targeting regions other than North America. As Ayre noted, most of the people threatened by Bitcoin’s unbounded scaling are based in the United States, and as such, BSV gets much better reception in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

In closing, Ayre has this piece of advice to everyone: Take your time and do your own research on what Bitcoin is capable of.

Watch the BSV Global Blockchain Convention Dubai 2022 Day 1 here:

Watch the BSV Global Blockchain Convention Dubai 2022 Day 2 here:

Watch the BSV Global Blockchain Convention Dubai 2022 Day 3 here:

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Calvin Ayre holiday message: Expect big data, enterprise gains for Bitcoin SV

By Guest Contributor | 21 December 2020

This article was originally published on CoinGeek on December 21, 2020.

2021 will be the year Bitcoin SV (BSV) proves itself at the enterprise level, showing it can handle big data applications better than anything that’s come before. That’s the message in a video holiday greeting from Ayre Group & CoinGeek founder Calvin Ayre as the curtains close on one of modern history’s most pivotal years.

As Ayre put it:

2020 was a crazy year. But it actually wasn’t all that bad for a project that I hold near and dear. That is, educating the world on the massive data powers of the original Bitcoin protocol, now trading only as Bitcoin BSV.

2020, despite its many shortcomings, has indeed been a good year for BSV. Development has continued to grow at a relatively steady pace both on the Bitcoin protocol itself and in the wider ecosystem.

The year began with the CoinGeek London conference and the launch of Bitcoin’s newly-restored protocol, codenamed “Genesis”. From there, developers have worked on expanding its data processing capacity—with transaction block size limits now completely unlimited, the network had to prove it was capable of handling that traffic.

BSV has not faltered in that time, processing transaction blocks of 309MB and 369MB in size on the mainnet. That’s set to hit even greater heights in 2021 and beyond as the enterprise-class Teranode protocol moves closer to release and big data companies begin to adopt the technology.

This was the future for Bitcoin that its creator always envisaged, Ayre added.

“When Craig (Wright) invented this technology, he actually wanted to invent the technology that was going to be the world’s best at big data management. But in order to do that, he had to massively scale it. And this technology scales unboundedly. No other comparable technology can do that.”

BSV provides frictionless microtransactions for big data applications, yet still performs its original tasks as peer-to-peer electronic cash effortlessly. It does all this faster and at far lower fees than any other blockchain-based technology in existence. 2021 would be the year BSV proves it’s “the only contender to be the first true world computer,” he said.

On the topic of Bitcoin’s creator, Ayre also made a few predictions:

“Craig is going to win all his lawsuits, I believe the evidence is on his side, the facts are on his side, and history is on his side.”

He also invited the public to make their own judgment on Bitcoin BSV by looking past the PR campaigns and seeing for themselves what it could do.

“Do your own homework—the information’s all there to verify for yourself, at any level, that this technology is real and fundamentally different than anything that’s ever been created.”

Ayre concluded with a call to join the Bitcoin BSV community to “spread the world, educate the world, on what BSV can do.” CoinGeek will certainly be doing that, and our team also wishes everyone in Bitcoin and beyond a safe and happy holiday season… followed by plenty of rest in preparation for the big year ahead.

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What’s next for Bitcoin SV, Calvin Ayre explains

By Guest Contributor | 18 November 2018

This article was originally published on CoinGeek on November 30, 2018.

The CoinGeek Week conference is in full swing in London and all of those who are in attendance are experiencing an exciting chance to see what is going on with Bitcoin SV and the entire crypto ecosystem. There is a lot of activity on the agenda and a lot to discuss, but CoinGeek founder Calvin Ayre took a few minutes out of his schedule to sit down with Bitstocks, the UK’s first crypto market advisory firm, to discuss what is happening with Bitcoin SV and where things are headed.

In the podcast, which is available on YouTube, Ayre talks about how he began to dabble in cryptocurrencies in 2010, but didn’t get really involved until 2015 when he met Dr. Craig Wright. They shared a lot of the same opinions regarding what cryptocurrency is and what it can be, leading Ayre to jump in completely to help build the space.

As is the case with many, when it was obvious that Bitcoin Core (BTC) was veering off the original path of what cryptocurrency was meant to be, Ayre played a role in ensuring that the path was kept alive through Bitcoin Cash (BCH), the only cryptocurrency that maintained the original Satoshi Vision. He adds that cryptocurrency was already mature when it was created and didn’t need to be constantly tweaked, a premise that was designed to be followed with BCH.

Just as BCH was initially intended to keep cryptocurrency moving forward as a true peer-to-peer currency, once it became obvious that certain developers were once again intent on changing the business model, Bitcoin SV came about to ensure that the original cryptocurrency model would continue.

Ayre also points out the recent stress test of Bitcoin SV, which proved what many have been asserting all along—on-chain scaling not only works, but it works well. The stress test saw 1,500 transactions per second, which is higher than what has been seen with Segwit, Ethereum and Ripple combined.

Within a year, 8,000 transactions are anticipated by allowing blocks that are two gigabytes in size. As Ayre points out, Bitcoin SV is the “only trustless, decentralized public blockchain,” and this is what is going to help drive adoption. It’s obvious that the consumer market needs to be educated on the merits of cryptocurrency in general, but this is coming and this education will allow everyone to see why Bitcoin SV is the original Bitcoin.

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