Paul Veradittakit, Partner, Pantera Capital

Founded in 2013, Pantera Capital is one of the oldest investors in the nascent market for digital currencies. Having previously made headlines for it’s eye-popping 25,000%+ returns in bitcoin back in the heyday of 2017 — it might also be one of the most recognizable brands. On this episode of The Scoop, The Block welcomed Pantera Capital partner Paul Veradittakit to talk about the firm’s history, why it sees more room for investing in the crowded cryptocurrency exchange market and how the firm plans to fend off new upstart challengers in the years to come.

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Pantera, founded by Dan Morehead in 2013, was among the first institutional investment firms to focus exclusively on bitcoin and blockchain-related opportunities, and by 2019 it had built out multiple strategies spanning a bitcoin fund, a venture fund investing in early-stage blockchain companies, and vehicles focused on liquid tokens.

Veradittakit, who joined Pantera early and has written extensively about the space through his newsletter, discusses how the firm's investment thesis evolved from the early bitcoin-only days through the 2017 ICO boom and into the more infrastructure- and application-focused environment of 2019, following the broader market's recovery from the prior year's downturn. The conversation covers how Pantera evaluates early-stage blockchain startups, including the shift in due diligence practices after the ICO bust prompted investors to weigh token economics, regulatory exposure, and real product traction more heavily than speculative hype.

Veradittakit discusses specific sectors he found compelling at the time, including decentralized finance protocols beginning to gain traction on Ethereum, custody and infrastructure providers serving institutional demand, and projects working on scalability solutions. He also addresses how Pantera approaches portfolio construction across its different fund strategies and how liquid token investing differs from traditional venture equity in terms of governance and exit dynamics. The two also discuss the broader venture capital environment for crypto startups in 2019, including how fundraising had become more selective compared to the ICO era, and what founders needed to demonstrate to attract institutional venture backing.

Veradittakit shares his perspective on where the next wave of blockchain innovation was likely to come from and which regulatory developments he was watching most closely. The discussion provides insight into how one of crypto's longest-tenured investment firms was adapting its strategy as the industry moved past its initial speculative cycle toward more durable business models.