Pantera Capital CEO: Get rich returns through diversified investment in cryptocurrencies

“If you’re just long Bitcoin, it’s a little like being long Yahoo in the 90s,” Dan Morehead, founder and CEO of Pantera Capital, said in an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum hosted by Bloomberg. “You know, there are 30 other very important companies to invest in, and there are actually more than 100 tokens that can be traded now with sufficient liquidity.”

As of June 20, Pantera’s Liquid Token Fund has surged 166% this year, compared with Bitcoin’s 24% gain over the same period. Morehead said in the interview that he is also investing in Audius, which he said is similar to a “decentralized SoundCloud” because it allows users to send audio files while using the Ethereum network. Polkadot is another of his crypto investments.

Dan Morehead has urged newbies and investors who want to buy Bitcoin to do so now. He believes that the Bitcoin market is currently below trend and describes it as the best time for new investors to buy.

The Pantera founder, who was an executive at Julian Robertson’s Tiger Management earlier in his career and is now part of a handful of crypto moguls, said crypto would create a parallel financial system that connects buyers and sellers of assets without banks through blockchain and decentralized finance.

The firm manages $3.2 billion in assets, according to its website, and launched its first fund in 2013 when bitcoin was worth just $65, compared with more than $32,000 today.

Galaxy Digital founder Mike Novogratz also joined the discussion, saying crypto is a rare investment that has become truly global and has the potential to outperform certain currencies in the next five years.

Novogratz said concerns about currency debasement will drive greater cryptocurrency adoption.

"There are already 200 currencies on the planet, and Bitcoin is just the 201st," Morehead said, adding that the dollar is unlikely to be replaced, but currencies like the Venezuelan bolivar could be. But for the most part, people will only see it as a supplement.