Cryptocurrency- and blockchain-focused investment fund Pantera Capital is aggressively pursuing its belief in the burgeoning asset class as it seeks a mammoth $175 million in investments from institutional investors for its third crypto venture.
Pantera’s Cryptocurrency Push
According to TechCrunch, the technology-turned-blockchain investment group is forming its third investment fund in five years, following a $13 million debut effort in 2013 and a larger, $25 million fund in 2016.
Pantera partner Paul Veradittakit noted the enormous amount represents the “fast-moving function” of the digital asset sector, citing tremendous opportunities, talent and late-stage investments coming in the space. The multi-millionaire investor also highlighted that Pantera wishes to “move with the market.”
While the investment is not capped at $175 million, Pantera has raised $71 million from 90 different investors at the time of writing, according to an SEC filing.
Contrary to the panic investing most amateur cryptocurrency investors succumb to, Pantera follows a traditional venture fund approach to the cryptocurrency space–which chalks out a 10-year investment period, clearly defined economics and several rounds of background checks before purchasing equity.
However, in 2017, Pantera deployed a risky ICO fund to capture the turbulent market’s most volatile asset class. At the time, founder Dan Morehead called the move a “discount” purchase when the project is “just a team and a white paper.”
Morehead added Pantera helps provide the “right connections, whether in terms of marketing or recruiting or business development” to deserving ICO projects.
Ease of Investments
Meanwhile, Veradittakit said the Pantera fund has an indefinite fund life, meaning investors are free to exit their investments without affecting the fund’s operations.
Pantera’s cryptocurrency gamble has evidently paid off. As reported by CryptoSlate, the fund amassed returns over 10,000 percent throughout the years by investing in and trading bitcoin. In addition, the incubator arm of Pantera leads investments in altcoin trading on high-volume exchanges, utilizing an algorithmic trading approach.
As Veradittakit puts it:
“If you aren’t sure that Bitcoin will remain the dominant cryptocurrency, or you’re interested in other use cases that may arise, or you just want to build a diversified portfolio of assets that have asymmetrical returns as bitcoin, or maybe return even more because they feature lower valuations.”
Although Pantera’s investment approach is risky given the origin of the cryptocurrency market and a stark lack of regulations, the companies it selects after careful vetting have become some of the sector’s biggest names.
Pantera’s investments include Ripple Labs, bitcoin vault service Xapo, payments application Circle and bitcoin wallet Abra, among others. The fund refers to its investment portfolio as “coinbases of different geographies, in enterprise-related blockchain companies.”
