Welcome to Stateful, the Pantera Podcast.

In our inaugural episode, host Mason Nystrom sits down with two of crypto's most experienced investors: Paul Veradittakit, Managing Partner at Pantera Capital with 11 years investing in the space, and Franklin Bi, General Partner who founded JP Morgan's blockchain team before joining Pantera seven years ago.

What We Cover:

The venture landscape has transformed dramatically since the metaverse mania of 2021-22. While total fundraising hit an all-time high of $34 billion this year, deal count has dropped nearly 50%. We break down what this flight to quality means for the industry and why later-stage rounds are dominating the market.

Paul and Franklin discuss the catalysts reshaping crypto venture – from Circle's IPO finally completing the exit story for VCs, to Bitcoin ETFs opening institutional floodgates, to the explosive rise (and recent cooling) of Digital Asset Treasuries. We explore why DATs represent a fundamental shift in how markets capture value from digital assets, and where this new vehicle class goes from here.

Investment Themes for the Next Cycle:

Tokenization: Why this multi-decade play is still in its first inning, and how it compares to newspapers going online in the early internet era
ZK-TLS and Web Proofs: The non-custodial data revolution that aims to solve blockchain's "trash in, trash out" problem
Stablecoins and Payments: How regulatory clarity may unlock the original "money over IP" vision
Prediction Markets: From Polymarket's $2B raise to the democratization of information markets

Bullish or Bearish:

The team weighs in on:

Robinhood vs. Coinbase stock (3-year time horizon)
Stablecoin payment chains and the distribution advantage
Privacy as venture category vs. privacy as feature
The future of the L1 trade and application-specific chains

Plus: Real talk on token vesting schedules, the timeline discourse, and why 98% of crypto ventures are worth nothing (and why that's actually normal).

This is crypto venture investing without the hype – data-driven insights from investors who've been through three -85% drawdowns and four market cycles.

The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates (“Pantera”). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

State of Crypto VC : $34B Raised, 50% Fewer Deals

Stateful