Michael Bodley

Dan Tapiero of 10T Holdings is launching a crypto private equity fund amid deeply discounted valuations, targeting a $1 billion capital raise backed by hedge fund billionaire Alan Howard and a host of other prominent investors.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Tapiero is leading up the launch of the growth-focused private equity startup, dubbed “a natural evolution of the investment strategy created at 10T Holdings,” according to the firm’s marketing materials, which were obtained by Blockworks.&nbsp;



The 10T founder is serving as 1RoundTable Partners’ chief executive, chief investment officer and managing partner. He’s targeting a whopping $1 billion capital raise by the end of the third quarter, when 1RoundTable’s flagship vehicle, 1RT Opportunities Fund, plans to conduct a capital close.



Tapiero is set to continue in his current role as 10T’s head. The firm, which has evolved into one of the industry’s largest and most influential players, now has $1.2 billion in assets under management, inclusive of committed and investor capital.



10T’s investment activities are set to continue unaffected, with a number of its managing partners’ staffers moving over to the new venture. Those professionals — like Tapiero — will continue in their current 10T roles.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">“Without single token exposure…”</h2>



Tapiero confirmed his firm’s launch in an exclusive interview with Blockworks.



Tapiero — whose long Wall Street resume includes Tiger Management — told Blockworks that 1RoundTable is “in a position to help this space” out of the “stigma” that still surrounds the cryptocurrency industry. That stigma has been fueled, Tapiero said, by out of touch US regulators and institutional investors who haven’t done their digital assets homework.



“The crux of our strategy is to give people exposure to the digital asset ecosystem without all of the crazy volatility — without all the single-token exposure,” he said.&nbsp;



He and his 10T team passed on more than 100 deals last year, Tapiero said, “many of them because of extreme, dramatic overvaluations.” Tapiero has the final signoff on 10T’s investment activities, and it’s now his view that valuations are more attractive.



The impetus behind 1RoundTable? The opportunity, Tapiero said, to double down on 10T’s winning venture bets with acceleration capital — marketed in a way that appeals to both crypto natives and traditional finance investors alike,&nbsp;



“My hopes have always been — and this is 10T and [1RoundTable] — that we act as a bridge from the old world to the new world.”&nbsp;



The fund’s focus, per the marketing materials, is to back the equity of mid to late stage digital asset companies with the “potential for outsized price appreciation over the next 5 &#8211; 10 years.” Two sources familiar with the matter confirmed aspects of 1RoundTable’s formation.&nbsp;



Its strategy is designed to tap the deep connections of the launch’s team. 1RoundTable’s marketing materials reference the firm’s “deep…knowledge and connectivity” in digital assets. More specifically, the private equity fund wants to capitalize on the “optimal entry point now” to acquire “discounted” digital asset equity, the same materials said.



There has been a long time lack of big money interest and a shortage of capital put to work in terms of bringing crypto companies public, according to Tapiero, who cited Coinbase and Galaxy Digital Holdings as rare examples of the industry’s entities going public with a sizable market capitalization behind them.&nbsp;



Tapiero and his day-one team are ramping up marketing efforts, which are set to more formally commence next week. He declined to comment on specifics of 1RoundTable’s fundraising and related terms, citing private placement regulations.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">A big-name team</h2>



He has some of the biggest names in digital assets and on Wall Street backing 1RoundTable, including hedge fund billionaire Alan Howard who is taking an unspecified general partner stake. Howard, one source said, also has previously snapped up a general partner position in 10T. Both stakes are relatively small, a source said, in relation to Howard’s portfolio.&nbsp;Tapiero has brought on board 10T partners Michael Dubilier and Eric Vincent for the 1RoundTable day-one team. Joining as 1Rountable’s chief financial officer — per the materials, and in May — is Joe Majocha, who formerly held the same title for a Two Sigma private equity affiliate that ran $4 billion at the time. Former Sotheby’s CEO Tad Smith has been tapped as an advisory partner, too, perhaps one indicator of institutional NFT interest surviving digital collectible’s fourth quarter tumult.&nbsp;



1RoundTable’s flagship fund — which imposes fees that are steep by crypto’s current standards — has a five-year investment period. It carries a 10 year fund term, with two one-year extensions available. 1RT Opportunities Fund imposes fees of 2% and 20%.&nbsp;



Its service providers are now in place, per the marketing materials: Standish Management has been tapped as the fund’s administrator; JP Morgan as its banking partner; KPMG as its auditor; Optima Partners for compliance. Two law firms are in place, as well.&nbsp;



Tapiero’s startup plans to have 10 to 15 employees on board, inclusive of both investment and non-investment professionals. He’s taking the long view when it comes to the role of private equity in digital assets. The sentiment has yet to gain much traction in terms of institutional capital.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“In the US, it’s really just Coinbase,” Tapeiro said. “I really think it’s impossible to think that in the next five years there’s only going to be one [sizable public crypto company]. There might be 40 or 50.”



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10T Holdings

10T’s Tapiero Launching Crypto PE Firm Backed by Alan Howard

Sebastian Sinclair

<div id="highlights-block_62e1ce40e7b4d" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>While some see the current market downturn as a means to engage in a &#8220;risk-off&#8221; attitude, others see bear market conditions as an opportunity</li>
 <li>The &#8220;picks and shovels&#8221; of Web3 and DeFi infrastructure including gateways such as wallets and exchanges continue to be the focus for funds such as 10T Holdings</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Casting an eye across the crypto industry, participants would be forgiven for thinking multiple sectors, including DeFi and Web3, are in trouble.



With retail and institutional players&#8217; shaken confidence — spurred on by the kerfuffle in crypto lending — deploying capital when uncertainty looms is not without inherent risks. 



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/eu-members-reach-agreement-on-mica/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Regulation</a> promises to <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/bear-market-a-chance-for-crypto-businesses-to-pivot-chainalysis-says/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tighten controls</a> over how crypto capital is utilized, engaged with and deployed, though more work needs to be done to protect investors, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/gensler-investors-are-not-protected-when-it-comes-to-crypto/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to some</a>.



Viewing through a global macroeconomic lens also highlights less promising signs of an early recovery in the broader markets, namely equities, which have oftentimes been closely correlated to crypto.



<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-28/russia-ukraine-food-shortage-fertiliser-climate-change/100575126" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Global food shortage concerns</a> resulting from the pandemic — exacerbated by Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine — as well as rising inflation alongside central banks&#8217; <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/fed-raises-rates-75-basis-points-again/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">levering of interest rates</a> to combat it, has all but increased the case for a &#8220;risk-off&#8221; environment.



Indeed, investment in crypto&#8217;s <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/vc-funding-slows-again-in-june-but-experts-say-worthwhile-projects-will-get-money/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">capital market has slowed</a> — money that had once flowed freely into budding projects over the last few quarters slowed up during Q2. 



Though to some, like Stan Miroshnik, partner at mid-to-late stage digital equity firm focused on digital assets 10T Holdings, the market is still full of &#8220;unique opportunities&#8221; for investors.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">&#8220;We&#8217;re just now starting to see interesting deals come back into the market at more reasonable valuations,&#8221; Miroshnik told Blockworks in an interview.</blockquote>



Others in the <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/op-cryptos-100m-fund-of-funds-to-back-early-stage-vcs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">capital investment sector</a> for crypto have also ramped up efforts to scoop up or further companies&#8217; efforts seeking to build Web3 and DeFi (decentralized finance) infrastructure amid bear market conditions in hopes of snagging greater profits during better times. 



Crypto investment firm <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/multicoin-capital/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Multicoin Capital</a>, which has backed multiple Web3 and decentralized finance projects, announced earlier this month it would be pouring an additional <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/despite-slow-q2-vc-dollars-are-coming-back-to-crypto/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$430 million</a> into crypto startups.



Continuing that trend, early-stage investment firm <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/konvoy-ventures-launches-150m-fund-to-back-web3-gaming-firms/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Konvoy Ventures</a> rolled out a $150 million fund aimed at budding gaming companies focused on a number of verticals including Web3, while the venture capital and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/binance-launches-500m-web3-blockchain-fund-to-drive-tech-adoption/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">incubation arm of Binance</a> closed its $500 million fund early in June. 



Most venture capital firms and funds are betting big on the internet&#8217;s transition to a more decentralized and democratized version in information sharing and engagement including the tools and infrastructure decentralized finance is promising for that transition.



Discussion from those developing those key infrastructure rails in the industry now centers around building atop of a less-than-frothy market following the contagion turmoil from crypto lenders caught up in Singapore-based hedge fund <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/three-arrows-capital/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Three Arrows Capital</a>&#8216;s implosion.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Turning a threat into an opportunity</h3>



&#8220;Every time there is a significant event, you watch and learn,&#8221; Bette Chen, co-founder of DeFi layer-1 smart contract platform Acala, told Blockworks. &#8220;This is a moment where you can see problems being exposed and for builders, those are actually opportunities where you can build strong systems.&#8221;



It&#8217;s companies like Acala that are continuing to improve the industry&#8217;s shortcomings that Miroshnik and others like him are mostly interested in.



The 10T co-founder said his fund was watching many blue-chip names including the likes of Fireblocks, OpenSea, Dapper Labs, Alchemy and Chainalysis which, in his opinion, had previously been too expensive on a multiple earnings basis where they had been trading 50 times the companies&#8217; total revenue.



&#8220;Now those valuations are coming down in the secondary market. And so in theory, one could buy some of those blue-chip names at more reasonable valuations,&#8221; he said. 



10T, like other funds in the industry, approach their investment thesis by deploying capital across four verticals including non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and metaverses, DeFi infrastructure, gateways such as wallets and exchanges, as well as businesses utilizing a token incentive engine for real-world use cases like those seen in decentralized wireless network <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/blockchain-infrastructure-provider-looks-to-bring-retail-to-web3/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Helium</a>.



When asked about the fund&#8217;s short-to-midterm outlook, Miroshnik said &#8220;money&#8217;s in the waiting, not the trading&#8221; providing somewhat sage advice for retail and institutional investors seeking to follow in lockstep the capital deployment of some of the industry&#8217;s bigger funds.



&#8220;If you want to go deeper, and you want to make these vertical bets, they&#8217;re clear leaders already,&#8221; the co-founder said. &#8220;You don&#8217;t have to buy the new GameFi tokens. Ideally, you can just buy something where you know there&#8217;s a lot of momentum already.&#8221;



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Big Bets on Web3, DeFi Continue Despite Crypto Concerns

Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_628e4b1764ac6" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The crypto financial services provider has roughly 500 institutional clients and focuses on lending and trading</li>
 <li>Jeneration Capital and 10T Holdings were among the main investors in the round</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Crypto financial services provider Babel Finance has raised $80 million at a $2 billion valuation as the company seeks to continue driving institutional adoption in the space.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



The company’s primary clients are crypto-native firms, banks, investment funds, ultra-high-net-worth accredited investors and family offices. Founded in 2018, <a href="https://babel.finance" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Babel Finance</a>’s main businesses are crypto lending and trading, and it focuses on bitcoin, ether and stablecoins. 



Babel Finance CEO Del Wang said in a statement that the company seeks to take part in the “building of the fundamental financial order and rules for the industry” as the industry becomes more institutionalized.



“From the perspective of short-term profits, the retail market and altcoins may have higher profit margins, but we pay more attention to the long-term development of the industry and aim to lead in institutional financial services and innovation,” Wang added.&nbsp;



The main investors in this round include Jeneration Capital and 10T Holdings, as well as existing shareholders Dragonfly Capital and BAI Capital.



“Babel Finance has opened up a market with high barriers to entry and great value in the emerging field of institutional investor services in crypto,” 10T CEO Dan Tapiero said in a statement. “Babel Finance has built a laudable reputation as a highly specialized and trusted crypto financial institution, maintaining its leading position among the institutional client-focused market.&#8221;



The firm had raised $40 million in its Series A round in May 2021. Since then, the team grew from 50 people to 170. It currently has about 500 clients.



Babel Finance had an outstanding loan balance of more than $3 billion and an average monthly trading volume of $800 million in derivatives at the end of 2021. It had structured and traded more than $20 billion in options products at that time.



It has a new office in Singapore and applied for licenses in a range of countries and regions, including Hong Kong, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom.



A Babel Finance spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment on how it would use the funding or its specific growth plans.



The company is the latest crypto firm to fetch a 10-figure valuation. <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ava-labs-reportedly-hits-5-25b-valuation-with-new-raise/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ava Labs</a> and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/boba-network-valuation-hits-1-5b-after-45m-series-a-round/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Boba Network</a> were valued at $5.25 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively, after their latest raises last month.



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Babel Finance Valued at $2B After Latest Fundraise

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_6222590637379" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The total money invested this week came from over 20 deals and funds, PitchBook data showed</li>
 <li>Prominent venture capital firm a16z invested $70 million into DeFi staking platform Lido on Thursday</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



March started off strong as crypto companies and funds alike brought in another substantial week of capital, nearing a total of $1.34 billion. The total money invested this week came from over 20 deals and funds, PitchBook data showed.



The week’s biggest raise came from Electric Capital. The firm <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/electric-capital-raises-1-billion-to-launch-crypto-venture-token-funds/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">raised $1 billion</a> to launch two funds: a $400 million venture fund and a $600 million token fund. The capital raise brings the firm into the big leagues alongside major funds such as Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Paradigm and 10T Holdings.



On Thursday, the prominent venture capital firm, a16z, invested $70 million into DeFi staking platform Lido. The decentralized platform offers Ethereum staking and other proof-of-stake assets to users through a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) governance structure.



The fresh funds from a16z will be used to build out its staking solution and prepare for upgrades surrounding the Ethereum transition from <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/proof-of-work-vs-proof-of-stake-whats-the-difference/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">proof-of-work to proof-of-stake</a>, Jacob Blish, Lido’s head of business development and partnerships, said to Blockworks.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“The roadmap for 2022 is prioritizing the Ethereum network upgrade, researching and building out layer-2 solutions, and expanding to a number of new protocols,” Blish said.</blockquote>



Since 2022 started, Lido has launched liquid staking for Kusama and Polygon and plans to add Polkadot, Avalanche and Cosmos in the second half of the year, Blish noted.



In other news, a seed-stage venture capital firm, Arcanum Capital, launched its first fund of $12 million, Wednesday, to focus on blockchain technology companies in emerging markets — mainly in India.&nbsp;



“We launched the fund because we wanted a vehicle to raise significant institutional capital into, to then deploy into India and make a big impact,” James McDowall, founding partner at Arcanum Capital, said to Blockworks.



The company’s fund includes prominent investors like Polygon Co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, venture capitalist Tim Draper, and Bybit’s venture capital arm, Mirana Ventures, among others. To date, Arcanum has invested about $4 million in over 20 startups.



“We are seeing blockchain technology disrupt almost every industry,” McDowall said.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“DeFi alone has trillions of dollars of market share to go at. Add in [non-fungible tokens], gaming, and decentralized applications, and it is clear that blockchain is a gargantuan technology trend in its relative infancy.”</blockquote>



Other notable capital raises this week include:&nbsp;



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>South African crypto exchange VALR’s <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/in-one-of-africas-largest-crypto-raises-south-african-exchange-takes-in-50m/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$50 million</a> round</li><li>Thetanuts Finance closed an <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/thetanuts-finance-get-18m-in-seed-funding-to-flest-out-defi-platform/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$18 million</a> round to democratize DeFi-structured products</li><li>Pantera Capital led a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/subspace-labs-raises-33m-led-by-pantera-capital-to-further-web3-efforts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$33 million round</a> for Subspace Labs to further its Web3 efforts</li><li>Multicoin Capital and Jump Crypto co-led a <a href="https://multicoin.capital/2022/03/02/dialect-the-smart-messaging-standard/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$4.1 million</a> seed investment in smart messaging protocol Dialect&nbsp;</li><li>Ignite Tournaments closed a $10 million financing round to build a play-to-earn esports tournament and streaming platform</li></ul>



Check back next week for more funding news.



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Funding Roundup: $1.34B Invested in Crypto Companies and Funds This Week

<div id="highlights-block_61fd75403556f" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>On Friday, layer-2 infrastructure firm Qredo closed its $80 million Series A round led by 10T Holdings</li>
 <li>Earlier this week, Seven Seven Six closed a whopping $500 million venture fund for its second fund, which will focus primarily on crypto startups</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Capital continued to pour into crypto this week, despite a recent downturn in digital asset markets.



“Significant capital raises that closed last year will be deployed now, I expect an increased pace of activity,” Stan Miroshnik, co-founder of 10T Holdings, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-vc-market-poised-for-growth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a> Blockworks earlier this week.



Layer-2 infrastructure firm Qredo closed its $80 million Series A round Friday, led by 10T Holdings, with participation from Coinbase, Avalanche and Terra. The raise brings its valuation to $640 million, after raising $120 million across the past 12 months.



“Infrastructure is a key battleground for scaling crypto adoption,” <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/podcast-is-the-crypto-bull-market-over-dan-tapiero-and-dan-morehead/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dan Tapiero</a>, founder and CEO of 10T Holdings, said.



More than $800 million was raised this week, according to PitchBook data. Some of the larger rounds include <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ftx-valued-at-32-billion/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FTX’s $400 million</a>, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-wallet-raises-109-million/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Phantom’s $109 million</a> and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/web3-data-firm-dune-analytics-hits-unicorn-status/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dune Analytics’ $69.42 million</a> capital raises.



Other fundraisers include:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Pixel Vault’s $100 million, which will be used to help launch an NFT platform</li><li>Tribal Credit, which offers crypto financial services, raised $60 million in a round led by SoftBank to expand into Latin America</li><li>CoinFund co-led $5.7 million seed round in prime brokerage liquidity protocol Primex Finance</li><li>Celebrity-focused NFT platform Colexion’s $5 million raise to expand into the metaverse</li><li>DAO-to-DAO credit lending platform Kyoko Finance closed $3 million private round led by Animoca Brands</li></ul>



Meanwhile, Reddit Co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s venture capital firm, Seven Seven Six (776), closed a whopping $500 million venture fund. The raise was oversubscribed, with $300 million going toward funding early-stage startups and $200 million going toward companies in growth stages.



The firm plans to primarily invest in crypto startups by the end of the year, Ohanian <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/alexis-ohanians-venture-capital-firm-raises-500-million-doubles-down-on-crypto-startups-11643716803" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a> the Wall Street Journal. The VC has over $750 million assets under management, just $26 million short of matching their name, 776, Ohanian <a href="https://twitter.com/alexisohanian/status/1488496693549142019?s=20&amp;t=Vp_Sq3zKGfyP5m6tHu0NWg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">quipped</a> on Twitter.



Ark Invest filed to launch a venture fund that would invest in companies involved in disruptive innovation, including those related to crypto and blockchain technology, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ark-invest-seeks-to-launch-venture-fund/">Blockworks reported</a>.&nbsp;



Separately, Arca also launched its NFT fund this week, which oversubscribed its initial cap of <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/02/03/2378523/0/en/Arca-s-Oversubscribed-NFT-Fund-Closes-At-50M-Cap.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$50 million</a>. The fund joins the firm’s three other investment products, including its Digital Assets Fund and Digital Yield Fund. The fund will invest in NFTs, as well as digital property, in-game assets, DeFi-integrated NFTs and utility- and reward-based NFTs.



“We believe that, at present, there is a dislocation between the value of non fungible assets and the value of the underpinning ecosystem via equity, tokens, etc,” Arca Portfolio Manager Sasha Fleyshman told Blockworks in a statement. “We look to both capitalize on that mismatch and catalyze the perception change of investing directly into NFTs as investment grade assets.”



Check back next week for even more funding news.



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Fundraising Wrap: Over $800M in Investments Poured into Crypto This Week

<div id="highlights-block_61e71031b0e14" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>“We have set ourselves the ambitious goals of building an open Web3 and facilitating an open metaverse that expands financial inclusion,” Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands said in a statement</li>
 <li>The company is an active investor in over 150 NFT and metaverse-related companies, including OpenSea, Dapper Labs, Yield Guild Games, Star Atlas, Axie Infinity, Thetan Arena, and others</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The Sandbox parent company Animoca Brands has raised $358,888,888, to build out the open metaverse and enable individual digital ownership, the company <a href="https://www.animocabrands.com/animoca-brands-raises-usd358888888-at-usd5b-valuation-to-grow-the-open-metaverse" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> on Tuesday.&nbsp;



This funding round gives it a pre-money valuation of over $5 billion, the company said. The money will be used to continue funding strategic acquisitions and investments, as well as product development and licenses for intellectual properties.



The round was led by Liberty City Ventures and included other investors like <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/10t-holdings-plans-to-launch-third-crypto-fund/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10T Holdings</a>, C Ventures, ParaFi Capital, Sequoia China, Stable Asset Management, Soros Fund Management and Winklevoss Capital, among others.



In 2021, Animoca Brands raised $216.28 million to build out the open metaverse by bringing digital property rights to online users through the use of blockchain and NFTs and The Sandbox closed a funding round for <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/the-sandbox-raises-93m-in-round-led-by-softbank/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$93 million</a> in November 2021, the company said.



“We have set ourselves the ambitious goals of building an open Web3 and facilitating an open metaverse that expands financial inclusion,” Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands said in a statement.&nbsp;



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">While there was tremendous growth in this space last year, “we believe we are still at the initial stages of a new Internet revolution, and there are tremendous opportunities ahead of us in 2022 and beyond,” Siu said.&nbsp;</blockquote>



The company is an active investor in over 150 NFT and metaverse-related companies, including OpenSea, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/dapper-labs-backer-animoca-scores-85m-to-further-invest-in-the-metaverse/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dapper Labs</a>, Yield Guild Games, Star Atlas, Axie Infinity, Thetan Arena, and others.&nbsp;



Most recently, Animoca Brands participated in Metaplex Foundation’s <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/metaplex-foundation-closes-46m-funding-round/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$46 million</a> funding round on Tuesday and separately led an <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/animoca-brands-led-8m-series-a-for-burnt-finance/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$8 million Series A</a> for Burnt Finance on Monday, a new NFT auction protocol built on Solana’s blockchain, Blockworks previously reported.&nbsp;



“These technologies enable the true digital ownership of users’ virtual assets and data, and make possible various DeFi and GameFi opportunities,” the company wrote. Through elements like play-to-earn, asset interoperability and open frameworks, there can be greater equitability for all participants in the space, Animoca Brands noted.&nbsp;



The precise valuation of Animoca Brands, based on share price and shares on issue prior to the capital raise, is $5.4 billion, or A$7.6B, at current exchange rates. The raise included a subscription price of $3.23, or A$4.50, per share for a total of 111,173,515 new shares.&nbsp;



The company was not available for additional comment requested by Blockworks on Tuesday.



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The Sandbox Parent Animoca Brands Raises $359M to Build Out Open Metaverse

<div id="highlights-block_61af97dc0eb70" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The firm currently manages about $800 million in assets between the 10T Fund and the 10T DAE Expansion Fund</li>
 <li>10T’s initial pair of funds focuses on investments in mid- to late-stage private crypto businesses</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Private equity firm 10T Holdings is getting set to launch a third fund focused on digital assets companies, which would bring the company’s assets under management to more than $1 billion.



The firm currently manages about $800 million in assets between the 10T Fund and the 10T DAE Expansion Fund. The new fund, called the 10T DAE Fund 3.0 in a Tuesday <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1896583/000189658321000001/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">regulatory filing</a>, is expected to be $500 million.



The newest fund plans come as the digital assets space has seen an increasing number of use cases and sectors in recent months.&nbsp;



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/10t-holdings-raises-750m-for-first-growth-equity-funds/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10T’s existing two private equity funds</a> invest in three segments within the crypto ecosystem: digital asset ecosystem gateways, blockchain infrastructure and what the firm considers to be next-generation financial services.&nbsp;



Tapiero noted that the firm’s focus on investments in mid- to late-stage private businesses in the digital assets ecosystem makes 10T’s existing funds unique to many other offerings. The 10T Fund and the 10T DAE Expansion Fund do not invest in cryptocurrencies, venture projects or early-stage protocols, he explained.



When 10T was founded last year, there were a dozen or so crypto companies with a market capitalization of $1 billion or more, Tapiero said. Today, there are about 70, he noted.&nbsp;



“The demand for investing in this part of the capital stack — B and C rounds, and later of some of these larger companies — has been so large,&#8221; the CEO said previously.



The 14 companies the first two 10T funds have invested in to date are: Kraken, eToro, Huobi, Mercado Bitcoin, Gemini, Bitfury, Ledger, Helium, Figment, Prime Trust, Deribit, Figure, Animoca Brands and Ledn.



“We think the companies in the first two funds are companies that three, four, five or six years from now will be in the S&amp;P 500,” Tapiero said. “These are the established companies that are in the pole position in the space.” 



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/das-2021-crypto-market-could-hit-40t-in-five-years/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tapiero estimated</a> during Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit in September that the crypto market value, which is currently at about $2.5 trillion, could hit $20 trillion within five years. He said bitcoin reaching a price of $500,000 within that span is “very reasonable.”&nbsp;



Bitcoin’s price was roughly $51,200, as of Noon ET, according to CoinGecko.



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10T Holdings Plans to Launch Third Crypto Fund

<div id="highlights-block_61435b111102e" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Pantera CEO Dan Morehead noted that while bitcoin’s market cap could grow by 10 times in half a decade, he expects other crypto segments to go up even more</li>
 <li>Executives counter argument of Bridgewater Associates CIO Ray Dalio that governments will “kill” bitcoin if it becomes successful </li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The cryptocurrency market capitalization could continue to roughly double in size each year over the next half decade to reach $40 trillion by that time, <a href="http://v" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pantera Capital</a> CEO Dan Morehead said during a panel at Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) on Wednesday.



While he noted that bitcoin could grow by 10 times during that span, he expects other crypto segments to go up even more. More than 100% of the returns in the cryptocurrency industry have come outside of bitcoin over the last six months, Morehead added.



“Money protection or a digital gold is one of the things blockchain does, but there’s hundreds and hundreds of different use cases — NFTs, DeFi, all that and that’s why it’s so exciting,” he said. “It’s going to go through so many different industries and end up being worth so much value because it’s disrupting things that weren’t touched. Basically all of finance wasn’t touched by the internet.”



The global cryptocurrency market cap today is $2.28 trillion, according to <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CoinGecko</a>, as cryptocurrency trading volume in the last day was at $144 billion, as of 12:30 p.m. eastern on Thursday. The market caps of bitcoin and Ethereum were at about $900 billion (39.8% of overall market) and $425 billion (18.7%), respectively, the data shows.



Morehead was joined on the Manhattan event stage by Mark Yusko, founder and CIO of <a href="https://www.morgancreekcap.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Morgan Creek Capital Management</a>, and Dan Tapiero, founder and CEO of <a href="https://10tfund.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10T Holdings</a>.&nbsp;



Yusko, who estimates a $25 trillion crypto market in five years, said he expects a burst in the crypto market value over the next 24 months, followed by a bust.&nbsp;



“People will [say] it’s over, it’s the end,” he told the crowd. That’s the beginning.”



Yusko noted that he also expects the dominance of bitcoin to decline to about 20% of the overall crypto space, perhaps reaching $5 trillion by 2026.



Meanwhile Tapiero estimated that the crypto market value could hit $20 trillion and said bitcoin reaching a price of $500,000 is “very reasonable” within five years.



Bitcoin’s price was above $48,000 on Thursday afternoon, according to CoinGecko, up 4.3% in the last seven days.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“I don’t know that bitcoin dominance will fall … because there is a world in which things start getting built on bitcoin,” Tapiero explained. “There’s so much innovation happening at such a fast pace that, at least for me, I find it hard to be specific on the bet.” 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Can crypto be stopped?</h3>



Ray Dalio, CIO of hedge fund manager Bridgewater Associates since 1985, said Wednesday in an <a href="https://twitter.com/SquawkCNBC/status/1438122407965954054?s=19" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">interview</a> with CNBC that though he has a small allocation to bitcoin relative to other investments, the growth of crypto could lead to its end.&nbsp;



“It’s an amazing accomplishment to have brought it from where that programming occurred to where it is,” he said. “&#8230;I think at the end of the day if it’s really successful, they’ll kill it. They’ll try to kill it and I think they will kill it, because they have ways of killing it.



“It doesn’t have intrinsic value,” Dalio added. “If you put cryptocurrencies, or let’s say bitcoin, in the historical perspective, there are so many things in a historical perspective that didn’t have intrinsic value and had perceived value and then became hot, and then became cold.”



Taperio called Dalio’s comments “ridiculous” during the DAS panel, noting that older investors who are choosing to ignore the benefits of crypto are having their wealth devalued.&nbsp;



Yusko called bitcoin the “greatest money ever invented,” noting that it and gold are the only two forms of actual money.



“That money … will displace all of the bad, crappy money, and that is inevitable and there’s no way to stop it,” Yusko said. “Ray Dalio is crazy to say they can shut it down. No, you can’t.”



The Morgan Creek founder noted China’s first crackdown on bitcoin in 2013, which sent its price tumbling.&nbsp;



“The price fell from $1,400 to $1,000 in two weeks,” Yusko noted. “Where is it today? Is it higher than $1,000? Last time I checked it was, right?’



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



Are you a UK or EU reader that can’t get enough investor-focused content on digital assets?<a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/das-london/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us</a>&nbsp;in London on November 15th and 16th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) London. Use code ARTICLE for £75 off your ticket.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/das-london/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Buy it now</a>.



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DAS 2021: Crypto Market Could Hit $40T in Five Years

<div id="highlights-block_e327486724ac2dde910b151d005a632b" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Billionaire hedge fund manager Alan Howard and the Municipal Employees’ Retirement System of Michigan are among the funds’ largest investors</li>
 <li>Bitcoin could hit $500,000 in next several years, 10T CEO Dan Taperio told Blockworks, despite hard-to-understand crypto concepts being a barrier to entry especially among older investors</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Private equity firm <a href="https://10tfund.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10T Holdings</a> has nearly $400 million in commitments for its first two growth equity funds focused on digital asset companies, as investment in the crypto space has boomed this year.



Together with co-investment and sub-advised vehicles, 10T raised approximately $750 million for the strategy, which comprises the 10T Fund and the 10T DAE Expansion Fund, the firm announced Wednesday. Most of the capital has already been deployed, according to the company.



The funds invest in digital asset companies with market valuations over $500 million through primary funding rounds and secondary market purchases. Portfolio companies currently include Kraken, Ledger, Figure, Deribit, Bitfury, Huobi, eToro, Figment, Animoca Brands and Helium.



The 10T Fund first closed in January with about $120 million, CEO Dan Tapiero told Blockworks, noting that the demand for the offering was so great that the firm kept it open to investors.



The fund’s first two investments — Kraken and eToro — quickly went up “astronomically,” the executive explained. The firm decided to create the 10T DAE Expansion Fund to invest in the same companies as the original fund, with the exception of Kraken and eToro.&nbsp;



The portfolios can be broken down into three buckets: digital asset ecosystem gateways, next-generation financial services and blockchain infrastructure businesses.&nbsp;



“The goal has always been to put three or four companies in each bucket and to build a diversified exposure for investors … who don’t really understand tokens or cryptocurrency or protocols or early-stage projects, and [who are] not very venture oriented,” Taperio said.



The funds’ investors include public pension plans, endowments, foundations, family offices and high-net-worth individuals. Taperio noted that billionaire hedge fund manager Alan Howard and the Municipal Employees’ Retirement System of Michigan, were among the largest investors.&nbsp;



The capital raise comes a couple months after venture capital firm <a href="https://a16z.com/about/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Andreessen Horowitz</a> announced a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/andreessen-horowitz-launches-2-2b-crypto-fund/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">new $2.2 billion fund</a> to invest in crypto networks and the founders and teams currently building within the digital assets space.&nbsp;



As of mid-June, an all-time high of $17 billion <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-venture-funding-is-at-an-all-time-high-this-is-where-the-money-is-going/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">had been invested</a> into crypto projects in 2021. &nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">The potential for and resistance to crypto</h3>



Taperio, who founded 10T last year, was previously the managing partner of global macro investment firm DTAP Capital Advisors and has worked as a portfolio manager and analyst for Tiger Management, Duquesne Capital Management, Steinhardt Management Co., and SAC Capital Advisors. He also co-founded Gold Bullion International, a physical precious metals and cryptocurrency platform for the wealth management industry.



He told Blockworks that he continues to believe the price of bitcoin could reach between $300,000 and $500,000 in the next three or four years.&nbsp;



“I could argue for higher numbers, but I think that’s reasonable,” he said. “I just think the world has been very slow to understand how wide-ranging, how broad the influence of the bitcoin invention is.”



The price estimate would put bitcoin’s market valuation at about $5 trillion, Taperio noted, compared to $200 trillion in bonds, which currently have yields under 2%. Meanwhile investors can get 8% on a stablecoin, he noted, or between 6% and 8% yield on bitcoin on top of 200% annualized returns.&nbsp;



The 10T CEO also pointed out that <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc">bitcoin’s market capitalization</a>, currently at $875 million, CoinGecko data shows, is dwarfed by Amazon, which has a market cap of about $1.8 trillion.  



“How could the most decentralized, most secure network in the history of the world be worth half of one company?” Tapiero said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”



While Howard, as well as other renowned investors like Paul Tudor Jones, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/paul-tudor-jones-likes-bitcoin-as-portfolio-diversifier/'" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">are bullish on crypto</a>, billionaire John Paulson <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/billionaire-john-paulson-calls-crypto-a-limited-supply-of-nothing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recently called crypto</a> “a limited supply of nothing.” The founder of investment management firm Paulson &amp; Co., who made an estimated $20 billion for himself and investors when he used credit default swaps to bet against the US subprime mortgage lending market in 2007, said cryptocurrencies will eventually prove to be worthless.



“John Paulson does not spend six months, 10 hours a day trying to understand the mechanism of the bitcoin network, how it functions, how it works, why it’s important.”



Tapiero said it took him a while to embrace crypto, noting that he pushed himself to read about and speak with people in the space. But older investors that have made their fortune within the existing investment world are less inclined to buy into a new system that has evolved from nothing.



“I’ve spoken to hundreds of investors from the traditional world and I’ve never seen anything break down across age demarcation so clearly,” Tapiero said. “Guys over 60 who are wealthy, it’s very difficult to get through. Anyone under 35, they get it.”



Are you a UK or EU reader that cant get enough investor-focused content on digital assets?<a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/das-london/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us</a>&nbsp;in London on November 15th and 16th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) London. Use code ARTICLE for £75 off your ticket.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/das-london/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Buy it now</a>.

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