Cryptocurrency Investment Fund Industry Graphs and Charts
Crypto funds go by many names – cryptocurrency funds, blockchain funds, or digital asset funds. Whatever you call them, the number of crypto funds is on the rise. With rising prices and rising public awareness, there were almost 200 crypto funds launched in 2017. For comparison, there were about 700 total traditional hedge fund launches in this same time. While accounting for a quarter of new hedge fund launches may not seem like much, consider that crypto funds had less than .1% of total hedge funds assets. In fact, crypto hedge funds are the fastest growing segment of the hedge fund industry. In addition, several of the top performing hedge funds in 2017 were cryptocurrency funds. In 2021, many crypto hedge funds are among the top performing funds worldwide.
More than 200 hedge funds launched in 2018. The pace of new crypto fund launches slowed significantly in 2019 and 2020, but as of Q3 2021 are beginning to increase again. 26 crypto funds were launched in Q2 2021 followed by 22 in Q3.
Below we use charts and graphs to examine the cryptocurrency investment fund industry in greater detail.
# of Crypto Hedge Funds
# of Crypto Venture Capital Funds
Total # of Cryptocurrency Funds
How many crypto funds are there? There are currently more than 800 cryptocurrency/blockchain investment funds. The majority are set up as venture capital funds, while a large number are hedge funds or hybrid funds. There are also a handful of crypto ETFs and crypto private equity funds.
Venture funds have now surpassed hedge funds as the most common type of crypto investment funds. Existing tech/FinTech VC firms are expanding investments into blockchain startups and launching their own blockchain funds. As some blockchain companies mature, private equity funds are beginning to get involved. Hybrid funds – those funds investing in liquid cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, as well as initial coin offerings, are listed above as hedge funds although they take on some characteristics of venture funds.
2017 was a record year for the launch of new cryptocurrency funds with over 290 new funds including hedge funds and venture capital. This was more than triple the number of funds launched in 2016. 2018 sustained the high pace of new crypto funds launches seen in 2017 in terms of crypto fund launches with more than 230. In addition to the launch of new VC and crypto hedge funds, we expect existing hedge funds to incorporate cryptocurrencies in their portfolios. Likewise, existing VC firms will continue to add blockchain investments as well as launch separate blockchain funds. As expected the number of crypto funds launched in 2019 slowed from the rapid pace in 2017 and 2018. 2020 also saw a much slower pace of new fund launches than in ’17/’18. The pace of new fund launches has picked up in 2021, with 72 launched in the first half of the year.
The vast majority of crypto investment funds are small by typical hedge fund criteria. 39% have less than $10 million in assets under management (AUM). However, there are a number of crypto funds with over $100 million in assets including Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital Assets, Grayscale, Bitwise, and Polychain Capital, among others.
Current crypto fund assets are still quite small. All crypto funds combined make up about 1% of total hedge fund assets.
The overall crypto fund industry has been growing rapidly. Changes in assets are a result of three primary factors: the launching of new crypto funds, net inflows to existing funds, and changes in the value of portfolio assets. The latter factor was particularly prevalent in the last half of 2017 when Bitcoin, for example, increased in value nearly fourfold. Prices for leading cryptocurrencies fell sharply in 2018. Despite this, the growth of new funds and fund inflows contributed to rising AUM for the crypto fund industry as a whole. Since mid-2020, crypto fund assets under management have continued to grow quickly and surpassed $50 billion in Q1 of 2021. Assets fell slightly in Q2, 2021 but still remain near record levels.
Crypto Funds have slightly outperformed Bitcoin and most other cryptocurrencies since 2016. Typically, crypto funds have underperformed cryptocurrencies in bull markets and outperformed in bear markets. In addition, crypto fund have collectively outperformed Bitcoin since 2016 and done so with substantially less volatility than the cryptocurrency market as a whole.
Most blockchain/crypto investment funds are small. Many are run by their founder and one or two additional professional staff. Most crypto funds have between five or fewer employees. Only a little over 5% have more than 25 employees (these are generally VC funds that do not exclusively invest in digital assets/blockchain companies). Overall, crypto funds employ approximately 5,500 people.
Crypto funds are now based in more than 80 countries. However, nearly half of all cryptocurrency investment funds are based in the United States. The United Kingdom, China/Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, and Germany all have a significant number of funds. New crypto funds are also beginning to pop up in Eastern Europe and Russia, as well in offshore jurisdictions like the Cayman Islands (those these funds typically have offices onshore).
Heatmap of Crypto Funds by City
The top cities for crypto funds are all cities that have significant existing hedge fund and venture capital industries. Topping the list of cities with the most digital asset funds are San Francisco, owing to it already having the dominant VC industry in the world, and New York, the undisputed hedge fund capital of the world. London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Zurich, and Chicago all also have a significant number of crypto funds. Chicago in particular is likely to see significant growth in new funds as commodity exchanges begin to allow trading of cryptocurrency options and futures.
California has more crypto funds than any other state. Led by San Francisco and Silicon Valley, California represents nearly half of all crypto funds in the US.
Most US-based crypto funds are not registered with the SEC. Some will file a form D, but not be required to file for an SEC registration number under The Investment Company Act of 1940. Since most crypto fund launches have been small, most qualify as an exempt advisor and are not required to register. The CFTC has given guidance that it considers cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum to be commodities and may therefore have certain jurisdiction over crypto funds. The SEC has also suggested it considers most IPOs, security tokens, and even utility tokens to be securities.
NOTE: Totals for the various charts will not always have the same total as varying information is available.
Top 10 Cryptocurrency Funds
Arrington XRP
Arrington XRP Capital is a crypto hedge fund based in Seattle, WA and founded in 2017 by Michael Arrington. Mr. Arrington was the founder of TechCrunch and venture capital fund, CrunchFund. Unlike other funds that invest largely in bitcoin and ethereum, Arrington has gone all in on Ripple, a cryptocurrency which has a financial infrastructure he believes in. It was reported that Arrington XRP launched with at least $100 million in assets.
BlockTower Capital
BlockTower Capital is a crypto hedge fund founded in 2017 and based in Stamford, CT. Like Polychain and MetaStable, BlockTower has received funding from large venture funds like Andreessen and Union Square Ventures. Within several months of launching, BlockTower announced it had $140 million in assets. BlockTower was founded by former Goldman Sachs’ Matthew Goetz.
Brian Kelly Capital Management
Brian Kelly Capital Management is a cryptocurrency hedge fund manager based in New York and founded in 2017 by financial markets commentator and investor Brian Kelly. Before founding BKCM, Mr. Kelly co-founded hedge fund Shelter Harbor Capital. The BKCM Digital Asset Fund invests in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and digital assets. They also operate a global macro fund that invests in non crypto assets.
Digital Currency Group
Digital Currency Group, founded by Barry Silbert, now manages more than $2 billion. They make venture investments in blockchain companies and operate Grayscale, a crypto fund/note manager with various trusts including the Bitcoin Investment Trust . Digital Currency Group is based in New York.
Fenbushi Capital
Fenbushi is a Chinese venture capital fund that exclusively in blockchain companies. Founded in 2015, Fenbushi was one of the earlier players on the VC crypto scene. Some of their investments include everledger, Hashed Health, and TenX. Dr. Feng Tiao and Bo Shen head the team and once head Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin as an advisor before he departed in early 2018.
Galaxy Digital Assets Fund
Galaxy Digital Assets Fund, also known as Galaxy Digital, is one of the newer entrants on this list of top crypto funds. However, it receives placement as a result of the prominence of its founder Mike Novogratz. Mr. Novgratz was former Chief Investment Officer for hedge fund giant Fortress Investment Management. Though it’s unclear how much Galaxy has raised, they have publicly noted their intent to raise at least $200 million in assets. Galaxy Digital is based in New York.
More info on Galaxy Digital Assets Fund
MetaStable Capital
MetaStable is the quintessential crypto hedge fund. Unlike some hybrid funds that invest in currencies as well as early stage blockchain companies, MetaStable invests exclusively in cryptocurrencies themselves (Ethereum, Bitcoin, Ripple etc.). MetaStable is based in San Francisco and was founded in 2015 by Naval Ravikant. What makes MetaStable unique from many of its peers is that it apparently received significant funding from top venture funds like Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund (Peter Thiel’s venture fund), and Bessemer Venture Partners.
Pantera Capital
Pantera Capital is a blockchain venture capital fund based in Menlo Park, CA. Pantera invests in blockchain startups such as Ripple, opentoken, Koinex and more. Pantera was originally founded in 2003 by Dan Morehad, before officially focusing on crypto companies a decade later.
Passport Capital
Passport Capital is a thematic investment firm founded in 2000. In 2017 they began investing in Bitcoin and other digital assets and manage more than $300 million.
Polychain Capital
Polychain Capital is a cryptocurrency hedge fund based in San Francisco, CA and founded by Olaf Carlson-Wee in 2016. Mr. Carlson-Wee was formerly Head of Risk at Coinbase. Polychain is backed by venture capital heavyweights like Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital. Polychain has approximately $250 million in assets which makes it one of the larger digital asset hedge funds.
Tunlan Capital
Tunlan is a venture capital manager based in China. In 2018, the company was tasked with running a major Blockchain fund with significant funding from the city of Hangzhou government.
The list of top 10 crypto funds is provided in no particular order. It is based primarily on their overall prominence and not on any one specific factor.
There are now over 800 crypto investments funds and we will update this list and the charts on this page frequently.
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