World's 3rd Richest Man Denies Involvement in Belgian Crypto Firm

Bernard Arnault, the world’s third richest man, has denied his involvement in setting up a new Belgian crypto trading company Abesix Belgique.

Arnault was reported to be a co-founder of Abesix by Belgian business publication De Tijd on Aug. 28. Subsequently after the publication of the article, De Tijd posted an update that Arnault has formally denied the report.

According to De Tijd, Abesix would trade in six major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether (ETH), XRP, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC) and Dogecoin (DOGE).

According to information acquired by De Tijd, young Brussels entrepreneur Emmanuel Wouters is also involved in the founding of Abesix. Abesix itself declined to disclose more information on the matter to De Tijd.

LVMH is not new to blockchain

Arnault, 70, whose estimated net worth reportedly accounts for $96.6 billion at press time, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is CEO of the world's largest luxury-goods company Louis Vuitton SE, commonly referred to as LVMH.

France’s richest man is not new to blockchain technology though. As first reported in March 2019, LVMH teamed up with major blockchain firm ConsenSys and Microsoft Azure to develop a blockchain platform for tracking its products. The new blockchain product, Aura, is scheduled to initially go live with two major LVMH subsidiaries, Louis Vuitton and Parfums Christian Dior.