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
  • 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

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

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

Unlocked by Template (11).png

Research

Union’s technical design brings measured improvements to crosschain interoperability. By combining a consensus-verified hub with novel constructs like state lenses and ZK proofs for client updates, Union achieves an interoperability protocol that is highly performant, trust-minimized, and scalable.

article-image

The Google Cloud Web3 lead outlined a new Layer 1 with CME piloting tokenization on its rails

by Blockworks /
article-image

Camp is looking to onboard licensors and creators to monetize their content for AI agents

article-image

The US regulator will use Nasdaq’s system to detect manipulation across derivatives and prediction markets

by Blockworks /
article-image

SOL and HYPE have rebounded, dYdX course corrects (again)

article-image

Over 100 crypto firms and advocates urge Congress to shield open-source builders and non-custodial providers

by Blockworks /
article-image

The probabilities app is finding mainstream success