(Kitco News) - Pantera Capital is reportedly seeking to raise $1.25 billion to launch a second blockchain fund according to its founder and CEO Dan Morehead, who made the revelation during a Bloomberg interview.
Since its launch in 2013, the investment firm has grown to be one of the most active in the crypto space and currently holds $4.5 billion in assets under management according to its website.
Presently, Pantera offers five funds: venture, Bitcoin, early-stage token, liquid-token and blockchain funds.
The first blockchain fund launched in 2021 with a goal of raising $600 million. In January 2022, the firm revealed that it had secured more than $1 billion in commitments for the fund, which is an actively managed offering that invests in a combination of venture equity, early-stage tokens and liquid tokens.
According to Morehead, the firm’s second fund will invest in equity and digital tokens. Pantera plans to close investments in the new fund in May 2023.
The CEO also indicated that he is looking to buy additional shares of some of the companies that Pantera has already invested in whose valuations have dropped. This potentially includes companies like Amber Group, Coinbase, Anchorage Digital, Flashbots and FTX.
The reason for the new fund is to help provide more incentives and liquidity to crypto investors who may be starting to lose faith due to the price declines in 2022, which have been further affected by the widespread downturn in global financial markets.
“We want to provide liquidity for people that are kind of giving up because we’re still very bullish for the next 10 or 20 years,” said Morehead in the interview. “Unfortunately, crypto pricing has become correlated with risk assets, which I honestly don’t think has to be true. My hope is that soon crypto will decouple from the macro markets.”
|
| Robinhood launches its self-custody ‘Robinhood Wallet' for crypto traders |
Regulatory uncertainty is an existential risk to cryptos
During a separate interview with SALT New York, Morehead said that while most of the risks that the crypto industry has encountered so far have disappeared, regulatory risks remain.
“I think the biggest kind of existential risk that I worry about is still regulation [...] and in particular in the United States where there isn’t enough regulatory clarity,” Morehead said.
The way he sees it, regulatory uncertainty in the U.S. deters innovation and pushes new ideas, entrepreneurs and startups towards friendlier jurisdictions.
The lack of regulatory clarity is “either forcing companies and projects to go offshore which is unfortunate. Or it’s hampering innovation because people are afraid of negative consequences,” the CEO said.
As for why the co-chief investment officer thinks the future of crypto is positive, Morehead pointed to the widespread use of smartphones as the reason cryptocurrencies will succeed in the long run.
“I think we still are very early. And there’s still such a small number of people that are engaged in this. Maybe 200 million people, something like that. There are three billion people with a smartphone, right? And I think it’s pretty inevitable almost everybody on Earth with smartphones could use blockchain in 10 or 20 years.”
