LP sometimes asks me who I think is the best venture capitalist in the cryptocurrency space.
Article author and translator: Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner of Dragonfly, Gu Yu
Article source: ChainCatcher
LP sometimes asks me who I think is the best venture capitalist in the cryptocurrency space.
I think about this question often.
Since I started investing in cryptocurrency ventures, I've always aspired to be the best. I'm deeply driven by competition, and investing itself is a pure competition. Ultimately, only one person can win trades, and only one person can predict the winner of the cycle.
But when you examine and analyze them carefully, you will find that three people have proven themselves to be the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) in the field of cryptocurrency venture capital.
This might sound a bit off-topic (and it is), and it might not be very appealing to non-crypto investors. But I am one of them. So, this article is for everyone who sees investing in cryptocurrency as a lifelong career.
Third place: Dan Robinson (General Partner and Head of Research at Paradigm)
Mike Speiser, managing partner of Sutter Hill Ventures, incubated Snowflake and grew it into a $75 billion company—a truly legendary story. It's unheard of for venture capitalists to create such immense value for their portfolio companies.
Dan Robinson is the Mike Speiser of the cryptocurrency world.
Dan has been involved in the development of several groundbreaking companies in the cryptocurrency space. He was involved from the very beginning of Uniswap, being a co-author and one of the founders of Uniswap V3, which later became the cornerstone of on-chain spot trading. He was also a key early contributor to Flashbots, which paved the way for modern MEV auctions. In addition, he was an early research contributor to Plasma (the precursor to Rollup), and led the seed funding round for Optimism.
Dan is a true polymath. He's broken the mold of traditional venture capitalists. Originally a securities lawyer, he became self-taught a protocol architect and mathematician, and now a self-taught investor. Perhaps Matt Huang's wisest investment was hiring Dan. We often miss out on deals because of Paradigm, often because people say, "Yes, you guys are great, but sorry, I have to work with Dan."
The most formidable investors are those who do more than just invest. Dan saw the direction the entire industry was heading and repeatedly rolled up his sleeves to personally drive its realization. This makes him one of the greatest investors of all time and earns him a place on the "Mount Rushmore" of the cryptocurrency world.
Second place: Chris Dixon (partner at a16z)
Chris Dixon is a veteran in the cryptocurrency field. He saw the potential of cryptocurrencies earlier than anyone else. Before Chris, cryptocurrency venture capital was a niche area.
He was the first mainstream venture capitalist to publicly engage with the cryptocurrency space and commit his entire career to it. He was the first to introduce venture capital terminology into the cryptocurrency and internet investment arena. He was also the first to introduce these concepts to Silicon Valley and its institutional LP circles. Many of the concepts we discuss internally every day are directly borrowed from Chris. It's no exaggeration to say that I'm following the path Chris initially laid out for himself.
I believe Chris Dixon facilitated two of the most important deals. The first, of course, was Coinbase. In 2013, when the cryptocurrency industry was still in its infancy and everything was uncertain, Chris led Coinbase's Series B funding round. This deal perfectly exemplified Dixonism—"What the smartest people do on weekends, everyone else will be doing ten years from now." He made this deal with remarkable foresight, then doubled down, going all in to dominate the entire industry. When Chris first did these things, it was far more difficult to do what we are doing now.
The second deal was with Uniswap. Almost everyone who saw Uniswap's Series A funding round passed on the investment (at the time, Uniswap's final market capitalization was only $100 million—Uniswap was still very small). We were then intensely debating whether AMMs were capital efficient enough, whether they faced excessive adverse selection, and whether they were prone to forks. Paradigm passed on (despite leading the seed round), we passed on, and as far as I know, the other members of the a16z investment committee also didn't want to get involved in the deal.
But what about Chris? He reportedly said, "A smart contract that can buy and sell anything? Sounds pretty cool. Who knows what might happen—let's give it a try." He was right. It really is cool. All sorts of unexpected things will happen with the advent of permissionless AMMs. Turning down Series A funding was a profound lesson for me.
I disagree with a16z on many points. But everyone in the industry should have the utmost respect for Chris. He single-handedly propelled the cryptocurrency industry to its current cultural standing more effectively than any other venture capitalist. His life's work in promoting and legitimizing cryptocurrency in Washington, D.C., ultimately earned it cultural recognition as a positive, cutting-edge technology. Much of the cryptocurrency language we use today originates directly from Chris.
Without Chris's strong early support, cryptocurrency venture capital would not have achieved what it has today. For this, we are sincerely grateful to him.
This also leads to the number one venture capitalist in history...
First place: Kyle Samani (Co-founder and Managing Partner of Multicoin Capital)
Kyle, Kyle, Kyle.
I often complain about Kyle. He always annoys a lot of people—including me. It's always been like that.
But investing is like a sport. Ultimately, you either score points or you score nothing.
Kyle scored the highest of all. The enormous profits he made from Solana's seed round investment, and the effort he put into the deal, will one day be written into a book, and I'll definitely frown the whole time I read it.
You see, the best investors are contrarian investors. And Kyle is a true contrarian investor. Being a contrarian investor doesn't mean writing a viral article and getting a bunch of people saying, "Wow, that's smart." If everyone wants to retweet your post, then by definition, you're not a contrarian investor. You know you're a true contrarian investor when you annoy people. When people think you're a fool. When they think you're burning money.
Kyle is one of the few truly contrarian investors in the cryptocurrency space. I disagree with almost everything he says. But his initial investment, and his unwavering belief in holding Solana through the downturn after the FTX crash, undoubtedly make him one of the greatest venture capitalists in cryptocurrency history.
We often say that venture capital follows a power law. Kyle and his legendary Solana investment perfectly illustrate this law. Sometimes, all it takes is a single successful trade.
This is precisely why Kyle is considered the greatest cryptocurrency venture capitalist of all time.
These are my top three.
---
My wife sometimes asks me who should be placed at the top of this list.
Despite my high self-esteem—and I am indeed quite arrogant—I don't consider myself to be in the top three. I'm certainly in the top ten, maybe even the top five, but I'm definitely not as good as any of these three. I hope that one day, before the end of my career, I will surpass them. If we compare seasons, I do have had some seasons where I outperformed each of them.
But overall, these three are the best in history.
Praising competitors doesn't really help Dragonfly. But there's a deeper meaning behind the game. You see, being an investor in this industry is incredibly difficult—most of my peers along the way haven't made it. The cryptocurrency industry is fiercely competitive.
Despite competing with them daily, I have immense respect for them. I've witnessed their growth through nearly a decade of ups and downs. Together, we've weathered the storms of cryptocurrency, supporting the founders, supporting the industry, and helping it stand shoulder to shoulder with any other technology. As the year draws to a close, I feel it's essential to pay tribute to them, because venture capitalists are often overlooked in this industry.
Whether they realize it or not, each of them has done so much for me. I have learned so much from each of them. I sincerely hope they are proud of what they have accomplished.
Dan Robinson has foresight.
Chris Dixon was the first to see this.
Kyle Samani, however, persisted to the end.
My respects to everyone. I wish for even fiercer competition in the new year.
