Crypto hedge fund giant Pantera Capital to launch $134 million fundraising

Bitcoin’s sharp rise could be a sign that Pantera’s ambitions are expanding along with the price of bitcoin.

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In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday, bitcoin hedge fund giant Pantera Capital announced it will be offering up to $134 million in stock, the largest funding round in the firm’s seven-year history.

According to Cointelegraph, Pantera was founded in 2013 and is the first Bitcoin fund in the United States. Pantera raised less funds in its first round of financing, only $13 million, and later raised another $25 million.

But in 2018, the fund worked to raise a larger round, resulting in a third investment fund, dubbed Venture Fund III. The new fund received $164 million in inflows between 2018 and 2020, which capped a bad year for cryptocurrencies in 2019.

Now, as Bitcoin appears to be gearing up for its next bull run, documents filed with the SEC suggest Pantera has big plans.

While there’s no word yet on whether the new funding will lead to a new fund or simply expand the size of Pantera Ventures Fund III, Pantera’s latest investments and executive comments may hint at its upcoming strategy.

Pantera CEO Dan Morehead said in an interview with Contelegraph that he believes the growth of decentralized finance has the potential to exceed the growth of Bitcoin, and Pantera is focusing their attention on emerging financial verticals. In addition, Pantera seems to plan to expand the crypto asset derivatives market, such as Pantera's recent investment in the derivatives platform Globe.

However, Bitcoin bulls should not feel disdainful of the appeal of DeFi and derivatives. Morehead has also previously set a skyrocketing price target for Bitcoin, claiming that the price of the largest cryptocurrency will rise to $350,000.