Katherine Ross

This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



“I’m always trying to figure out where the puck is going,” Pantera’s Paul Veradittakit told me.&nbsp;



It’s a key part of how Veradittakit determines whether or not he’s interested in investing time and, of course, money into a project.&nbsp;



Veradittakit’s been around the industry for over a decade. If he hadn’t joined Pantera, he might have been one of the first employees at Coinbase. Instead, he and Pantera founder Dan Morehead decided to invest in companies that were building like Coinbase in other parts of the world.&nbsp;



Veradittakit said Pantera’s invested in 22 unicorns, with him taking the lead on 17 of them.&nbsp;



He’s now focused on finding the next winners of this cycle, especially since times have changed and, well, you know the rest. His bread and butter is Series A rounds, which are when a firm raises significant capital for the first time.



Veradittakit said there’s a bit of flexibility in a seed round, but that isn’t the case for a Series A. In order to put money behind a firm, he’d need to see it as a billion-dollar company, and his focus is on hunting for those future unicorns.&nbsp;



“While a founder is great, I&#8217;m looking for someone who will not stop until they succeed. Someone hungry, someone who won&#8217;t take no for an answer, will continue to find answers to problems,” he told me. Bonus points if they’re constantly information-seeking.



“The other thing that I look at is if the company already has a product. Then I want to see that the product is something that clients and customers love…It&#8217;s even better if we&#8217;re able to use the product ourselves; then we could even provide a lot of value just from us being an investor.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Fund V</h2>



Pantera is in the middle of raising for its next big fund: Pantera Fund V.&nbsp;



“Our last fund was $1.25 billion; this fund is targeted to be a billion…Quite a bit of interest from existing investors and new investors…We’re excited because there are a lot of companies right now that are hitting their stride,” he explained.



“We are a multi-stage firm, so we can now see companies…getting to Series B and beyond… We&#8217;re starting to see protocols that are finding product market fit that we can buy off of treasuries, and so there&#8217;s a lot of opportunity, especially [as] capital markets that are opening up, the IPO markets, we could be investing in those types of companies.”



For Veradittakit, perhaps the most exciting factor is that the friendlier US environment has encouraged founders and developers to build on American soil. Forty percent of Pantera’s capital has gone to projects outside of the US in the past, and Veradittakit is optimistic they’ll balance that out with the inclusion of more US-based companies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">VC Coins</h2>



One topic I wanted to get Veradittakit’s take on: the critiques of VC coins, or projects that give venture capitalists large allocations.&nbsp;



Veradittakit understands where the frustration comes from, noting that in 2017-2018, “a lot of investors made a lot of money, and then retail got rugpulled.” Those events are probably cyclical, happening when the market’s hot, he added.



“I think having vesting schedules and more alignment between VCs and entrepreneurs in terms of building for the long term is very important…Having more transparency around investing schedules and all of that is also going to be important for retail, so that they know what they&#8217;re getting themselves into, right? You only feel bad when you feel like you’re getting blindsided,” he told me.&nbsp;



As the industry matures, Veradittakit believes we’re going to see more projects go from having a very small team from the get-go and taking on more of a startup feel with executives and, for example, a business development team.



Pantera, he added, aims to help projects that it invests in (obviously, they’re going to want said projects to succeed), with a focus on hiring, tokenomics and governance.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What&#8217;s next</h2>



Veradittakit and I also hit on what interests him and, perhaps more importantly, what doesn’t these days.&nbsp;



In conversation, he highlighted staking, insurance and infrastructure plays (though not L1s), and also “things that make moving assets and providing security and insurance across a multi-chain world [easier], and [which make] it very easy for developers to provide the best user experience.”



Then, of course, projects at the intersection of TradFi and crypto — including stablecoins, RWAs, tokenized stocks, etc. And, finally, consumers.



“Especially with consumer companies now feeling more comfortable to launch a token, I think we can really start seeing consumer-facing products get traction and have participation from the users, whether it’s in the US and beyond.”



Which, he believes, will benefit DeFi, gaming, consumer finance and DePIN.



However, Pantera’s still not very exposed to hardware.&nbsp;



“It’s just a very capital-intensive business. There would have to be…a seed-stage company and something that was just so cutting edge that we couldn’t pass [it] up,” Veradittakit told me.&nbsp;



Pantera has also undertaken some AI investments, but they’re sidelining AI for the most part to see how the tech plays out. Veradittakit assured me it didn’t impact his belief that tokens could be used as AI incentives and AI agents which, in his view, could represent a “killer use case” for crypto.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: Unpacking crypto and the markets.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

Empire Newsletter

How Pantera’s Paul Veradittakit spots crypto unicorns

This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



ICYMI: Arch Labs announced a $13 million raise with the goal of launching a bitcoin virtual machine.&nbsp;



The Series A round was led by Pantera Capital.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">We’re excited to share that <a href="https://twitter.com/PanteraCapital?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PanteraCapital</a> is leading our $13M Series A to help <a href="https://twitter.com/Arch?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Arch</a> build the permissionless financial rails for a Bitcoin-denominated world. This funding brings us closer to unlocking Solana-like speed for Bitcoin apps, tapping into the $1T+ Bitcoin economy. <a href="https://t.co/hI8S62VyiH">pic.twitter.com/hI8S62VyiH</a>&mdash; Arch Network (@ArchNtwrk) <a href="https://twitter.com/ArchNtwrk/status/1914671769861947832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



“We’re at a pivotal moment—both for Arch and for Bitcoin. Bitcoin has seen massive growth and institutional acceptance, but the mempool tells a different story: Not enough on-chain activity is driving sustained fees for miners,” CEO Matt Mudano told me. “This raise allows us to scale engineering, grow our community and support a new wave of builders. Our focus is on creating a thriving, composable ecosystem of applications that bring real utility to Bitcoin and help secure its future.”



They plan to deploy the capital across three priorities, he added. Scaling the “core engineering team,” ecosystem growth, and “expanding developer adoption.”



Basically, the team is hyper-focused on infrastructure as it works toward mainnet launch. Arch Labs is also using “grants, developer tooling and community programs to help turn Arch into the home for Bitcoin’s programmable economy.”



The team also plans to launch a token, but Mudano told me that they can’t disclose details at this time. What he did say, though, was that a native token is important in the team’s eyes, given that it will be used for both gas and staking. It would also help secure the network through “aligned incentives.”



“We’re being thoughtful about timing and strategy, especially in a market that’s still finding its footing,” he told me.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: Unpacking crypto and the markets.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

Bitcoin

How Arch Labs plans to deploy $13M raise

Sebastian Sinclair

A new survey indicates that less than 3% of professionals in the crypto industry receive compensation in the form of digital assets.



According to Pantera Capital’s latest Blockchain Compensation Survey, shared with Blockworks, 97% of the 1,600 professional respondents preferred fiat-based compensation.



Of those remaining, <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/usdc">USDC</a> represents roughly 56% of crypto salary payments, while <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/usdt">USDT</a> stood at 25%, followed by bitcoin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc">BTC</a>) at 13%.



Pantera’s report provides key insights into salary trends across various roles, geographic locations and company maturity stages.



In the US, executive salaries range from an average of $147,363 at seed-stage startups to $335,400 for those at Series C and beyond.



Likewise, specialized roles in marketing and finance also see higher median salaries in the US compared to global figures, with marketers earning a median salary of $135,000 versus a global $100,000.



Compensation for business development roles globally centers at a median base salary of $115,000, with US professionals averaging $140,000. Senior-level employees in business development can make as much as $275,000.&nbsp;



Product management professionals, in a similar vein, show median base salaries ranging from $115,000 in early career to $187,500 for senior positions within the US.&nbsp;



Encompassing roles from customer support to strategy, the operations sector sees a median US base salary of $110,000, peaking at $344,000 for the highest earners.



The legal landscape, influenced by recent regulatory turbulence, shows the median base salary for senior legal roles in the US standing at $225,000, scaling up to $370,000 at the top echelons.



The crypto sector has also overwhelmingly adopted remote work, the survey found, with more than 87% of all roles falling within a work-from-home capacity.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: Unpacking crypto and the markets.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

Pantera

Almost no one wants to be paid in crypto: Pantera survey

Morgan Chittum

<div id="highlights-block_62334f9f52f94" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Participants include Pantera, Brevan Howard, Alan Howard, Amber Group, Blockchain.com, Circle Ventures and Finality Capital Partners</li>
 <li>The capital will go toward “opening up more grant programs, such as a more robust grant program to support developers,” according to Mina Foundation’s Evan Shapiro</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Blockchain protocol Mina secured $92 million in a funding round led by FTX Ventures and Singaporean hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.



The capital will go toward “opening up more grant programs,” to “support developers,” Evan Shapiro, chief executive at Mina Foundation, told Blockworks.&nbsp;



“This [investment] from some of the most respected entities in crypto bolsters our aim to ensure that Mina becomes the go-to privacy and end-to-end security layer for Web3 while remaining powered by participants,” Shapiro said.



Other investors in the round include Pantera, Brevan Howard, Alan Howard, Amber Group, Blockchain.com, Circle Ventures and Finality Capital Partners.



Mina is the creator of a proof-of-stake protocol which bills itself as the “world’s lightest blockchain.” The project uses recursive zero-knowledge proofs to keep the state of the network at a tiny 22 kilobits (kb) — about 2,800 characters or 10 tweets. For comparison, Bitcoin’s blockchain <a href="https://ycharts.com/indicators/bitcoin_blockchain_size" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">is currently</a> about 396GB, while Ethereum <a href="https://ycharts.com/indicators/ethereum_chain_full_sync_data_size" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">weighs in</a> at 601GB to sync the full chain.



Imagine taking a picture of a sunset while on vacation in Hawaii to prove you were there. Now, someone takes a picture of your picture. Only, unlike with snapshot photos, a cryptographic technique known as <a href="https://minaprotocol.com/blog/what-are-zk-snarks" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">zk-SNARKS</a> allows the second picture holder to prove with certainty that you were there in Hawaii just as well as you yourself could.



In theory, the blockchain&#8217;s small size means Mina could more easily <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/measuring-decentralization-is-your-crypto-decentralized/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">decentralize</a>, because node operators do not require a significant investment in hardware. Developers of both Ethereum and Bitcoin have plans to allow for so-called “<a href="https://eth.wiki/en/concepts/light-client-protocol" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">light clients</a>” that would use similar techniques to function without a full copy of the chain history.



But on Mina, all participants act as full nodes and take part in maintaining consensus, <a href="https://minaprotocol.com/blog/what-is-ouroboros-samisika" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">using a variation</a> of the Ouroboros proof-of-stake protocol that was first developed for Cardano.



The system relies on another network participant dubbed a “prover” (a bit like <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/the-investors-guide-to-bitcoin-mining/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a Bitcoin miner</a>, but without the energy use) which does need to store the full state.



There is a downside to computing zero-knowledge proofs, however: <a href="https://youtu.be/EugpncZGNnU?t=345" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mina’s 1 transactions-per-second</a> (TPS) rate makes it considerably slower than alternative layer-1 chains like Cosmos and Solana, and even slower than the Bitcoin network’s 7 TPS.



The team prefers to focus on a different mental model for scalability, <a href="https://minaprotocol.com/blog/solving-the-scalability-trilemma" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">they call ScaDe</a>, for Scalability-per-unit-of-Decentralization.



Mina is “built for mass adoption at both the user and application level,” Brian Lee, a partner at FTX Ventures, told Blockworks, adding that it will “enable a new generation of Web3 applications.”



Last year, the blockchain <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/05/05/lightweight-mina-blockchain-raises-187m-in-coinlist-token-sale/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">raised $18.7 million</a> in its token sale on CoinList.&nbsp;



Macauley Peterson contributed reporting for this story.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: Unpacking crypto and the markets.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

Alan Howard

FTX Ventures, Three Arrows Capital Lead $92M Raise for Mina Blockchain

Casey Wagner

<div id="highlights-block_615dfc1aa2f2c" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Dan Morehead says the days of vast price swings may be a thing of the past </li>
 <li>Historically, bitcoin has seen two bear markets where the currency lost 83%, but the most recent two have been -61% and -54%, respectively</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Just in time for bitcoin’s latest rally, Pantera Capital has released its investment letter and the firm is as optimistic as ever. 



“My sense is that we finished the halving cycle in April,” Morehead wrote in Pantera’s October <a href="https://panteracapital.com/blockchain-letter/the-next-price-era/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blockchain letter</a>. “We had a period of temporary insanity — where Chinese mining bans were thought to be negative and a few people had blockchain ESG upside down — and now we’re in a new bull market.”



Pantera, which earlier this year set its bitcoin price target to hit $115,000 by August 2021, has long looked to bitcoin halving cycles as a timeline for price movements. The world’s largest cryptocurrency typically sinks about 15 months prior to halving, which occurs every 210,000 blocks, before rising and rallying after the halving.&nbsp;



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="512" height="288" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Pantera-chart.jpg" alt="Pantera chart" class="wp-image-9023" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Pantera-chart.jpg?w=512 512w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Pantera-chart.jpg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Pantera-chart.jpg?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Pantera-chart.jpg?w=464 464w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Pantera-chart.jpg?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Pantera-chart.jpg?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" /></figure></div>



The most recent halving was in May 2020, but the rally peaked early in April 2021 when bitcoin broke $64,000. Looking to halvings, Morehead said, is important when trying to understand the change in the stock-to-flow ratio across each halving.&nbsp;



The first halving reduced the supply of new bitcoins by 15% of the total outstanding bitcoins, he said, resulting in a major impact on new supply and pricing. The 2020 halving, by contrast, had less than a third of the impact on price.&nbsp;



“Each subsequent halving’s impact on price will likely taper off in importance as the ratio of reduction in the supply of new bitcoins from previous halvings to the next decreases,” Morehead wrote. “Below is a chart depicting past halvings’ supply reductions as a percentage of the outstanding bitcoin at the time of the halving.”



All this means, Morehead said, that the wildly volatile price swings bitcoin has been known for will likely start to calm.&nbsp;



“I long advocated that as the market becomes broader, more valuable, and more institutional the amplitude of price swings will moderate,” he wrote.&nbsp;



Historically, bitcoin has seen two bear markets where the currency lost 83%, but the most recent two have been -61% and -54%, respectively. This also of course means that bitcoin’s bull markets will not see such dramatic swings either.&nbsp;



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“Unfortunately, there’s no free lunch,” Morehead said. “The flipside is we probably won’t see any more of the 100x-in-a-year rallies either.”</blockquote>



Even without a 100% increase, there is still room left in this rally, Morehead said, but to be clear he is still bullish.&nbsp;



“If it ever hits -83% again, I’m going ALL IN,” he wrote.&nbsp;



Pantera did not provide an updated price target in this letter.&nbsp;

Pantera Capital’s Morehead: We Are in a New Bull Cycle

<div id="highlights-block_613a38f066ad9" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Pantera Capital announced a new $600 million blockchain fund that has already raised $375 million </li>
 <li>The fund’s minimum investment is $1 million, limiting it to institutional investors</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Venture capital money is pouring into the digital asset space at a record pace this year, with $3 billion allocated to the space in the first quarter of 2021 alone, according to data from <a href="https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/crypto-startups-post-record-quarter-as-opportunities-abound" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pitchbook</a>. 



Cryptocurrency investment manager Pantera Capital is launching a new blockchain fund and it is already more than halfway to its goal of $600 million.&nbsp;



Pantera CEO Dan Morehead announced the fund, which will have closings every fiscal quarter, on a call with investors Wednesday. The first closing for the fund was completed in June with $375 million raised.&nbsp;



The fund will invest in three categories; venture equity, early stage tokens and traded liquidity tokens, such as bitcoin. The largest allocation will be toward venture equity. It is designed to protect against short-term volatility that can be nerve wracking for investors.&nbsp;



“The new fund is able to capture the often-large swings in value between equity and tokens,” Dan Morehead, CEO and co-chief investment officer of Pantera, wrote in a letter to investors. “Tokens reset quickly. In May, tokens dropped 55% in the span of a few weeks. On the other end of the spectrum, venture equity is very slow moving.”&nbsp;



The venture capital structure is a 10-year commitment, which helps investors to overlook day-to-day fluctuations in the market, Pantera said.&nbsp;



Pantera, which manages $5 billion in assets, began investing in the digital asset space in 2013, when convincing institutional investors to enter the digital asset space was a challenge.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Our first institutional, or outside LP, venture fund was in 2014, and it was a slog,” said Paul Veradittakit, partner at Pantera. “It was so tough to fundraise, we raised about $25 million for that one, mostly from high net worth individuals and family offices, and it was just venture.”&nbsp;



Things have changed since then, and it’s mostly due to institutional investor interest, Verdittakit said, which really picked up earlier this year.&nbsp;



“Because of what was happening last year with DeFi, investors really opened up to the possibility of getting exposure to tokens,” he said. “A lot of investors think that it makes sense to have exposure to everything, and they want to defer to a fund manager versus trying to decide which strategy to deploy and when.”&nbsp;



Regulation, Verdittakit said, is a common concern for investors, given the current lack of clarity in the space, but further oversight is an indication that the industry is growing.



“I think there&#8217;s been a lot of regulatory progress, both in terms of custody and in terms of licensing, there&#8217;s obviously some potential concerns around DeFi, but I think it probably doesn&#8217;t get regulated, up to a certain extent, unless the space gets large enough,” he said. “If space gets large enough, then the project will have matured and it&#8217;s a good problem to have. We&#8217;ll see what happens but we&#8217;re obviously going to do whatever we can as a firm to push forward regulations.”&nbsp;



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>.