Castle Island Ventures Raises Second $50 Million Fund

Boston-based Castle Island Ventures announced a $50 million close of its second fund, according to a blog post from partner Matt Walsh. The venture fund, managed by founding partners Matt Walsh and Nic Carter, is focused exclusively on public blockchains.  Castle […]

article-image

Source: Blockworks exclusive art by Axel Rangel

share

key takeaways

  • The fund will continue its focus on public blockchains
  • Castle Island’s first fund was raised in 2018 for $30 million

Boston-based Castle Island Ventures announced a $50 million close of its second fund, according to a blog post from partner Matt Walsh.

The venture fund, managed by founding partners Matt Walsh and Nic Carter, is focused exclusively on public blockchains.  Castle Island’s first fund closed for $30 million back in August of 2018.  

“We believe that public blockchains are a transformative technology and will change the way that we interact with money, value transfer, trusted third parties, and even the fundamental architecture of the internet itself,” Matt wrote in a blog post.

“We believe that we are in the early innings of a monetary transition towards a rules-based monetary order that has been in the making for decades. Startups are well poised to create generationally important businesses at the infrastructure layer of this shift.”

The concept of digital property rights are central to the fund’s investment thesis.  Castle Island sees the emergence of “Web3” as a novel, internet-native ownership structure that will lead to the creation of new business models with huge addressable markets.

The firm’s portfolio includes a number of “picks and shovels” infrastructure businesses, including BlockFi, ErisX, River Financial, Talos, and Casa.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates.jpg

Research

Bluefin possibly stands at an inflection point. The token is near an all-time low yet the protocol’s spot volume market share and derivatives exchange usage have been increasing month over month since its November launch. Given its current market position and the upcoming upgrades (for both Bluefin and SUI), there may be upside potential before the increased supply growth in December. However, strong opposition from existing competitors (like Cetus and Suilend), as well as new entrants (like Aftermath), pose key challenges to Bluefin’s medium-term success.

article-image

Top Committee Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren in her opening statement accused Atkins of “helping billionaire CEOs like Sam Bankman-Fried”

article-image

Introducing garbled circuits for enhanced privacy and regulatory compliance

article-image

Ross Ulbricht was a freedom maximalist building freedom tech, powered by Bitcoin

article-image

Solana validators can reap benefits including payments, votes and community clout

article-image

Sponsored

WalletConnect is cementing itself as the essential connectivity layer, ensuring wallets remain the entry point for billions of users

article-image

According to a legal filing, Galaxy Digital helped boost the price of LUNA while quietly selling its tokens