Who Are the Top Blockchain Investors?

There is no doubt about blockchain; it’s big business. But who are those who stand to gain, or lose, the most? Here’s a rundown of the biggest players, both corporate and personal.

Let’s start with VCs…

Digital Currency Group

In terms of sheer activity, the New York-based venture capital firm are one of the big boys. Since 2012, they have funded a myriad of different firms, start-ups and ventures. Among their most glittering investments are Coinbase, one of the world’s largest exchanges with over 13,000,000 users, and Ripple, the gross settlement system whose cryptocurrency, XRP, is the world’s fourth-largest.

Blockchain Capital

A San-Fransisco-based venture capital firm, Blockchain Capital also invested in Coinbase and Ripple early on. Their other investments include BitGo, the multisignature wallet and BitPesa, the African Forex specialists.

Pantera

Another major investment firm, Pantera have been around since long before the birth of Bitcoin. They also invested in many of the same start-ups as DGC and BC, and launched a hedge fund in June 2017. The fund is called Pantero ICO Fund LP and is focused on tokens powering blockchain protocols.

And what about the individuals?

When you get to this level of investment, there’s so such thing as a true individual really. But these are the names you’ll hear again and again when it comes to crypto.

The Winklevoss Twins

You’ll probably have already heard of these guys. Famous for a lawsuit over the Intellectual Property of Facebook, which was turned into the hit film “The Social Network”, the two brothers used their tidy payoff from the social media firm to invest heavily in Bitcoin. Their company, Gemini, is a driving force in the recent launch of CBOE’s Bitcoin futures, and their personal BTC fortune has grown so much they are said to be the first Bitcoin billionaires.

Barry Silbert

His name is all over the list up top, but you might not know it. The founder of Digital Currency Group (DCG) himself is said to have 48,000 Bitcoins that he bought in an auction in 2014. The auction was put up by the US Marshals Service as a capture from the illegal marketplace Silk Road.

Naval Ravikant
Naval Ravikant is the CEO and a co-founder of AngelList. He has been investing in blockchain startups actively. Some of his well-known blockchain investments are Bitwise, Basecoin and Blockstack.

Roger Ver
He was one of the first supporters of bitcoin, he was actually named as Bitcoin Jesus. He invested into some popular blockchain companies like Ripple, Bitpay and Kraken.

Satoshi Nakamoto…?

Nobody knows what he/she looks like. This person may not even exist, but you’ll hear the name every day. Nakamoto is the supposed creator of Bitcoin, or so the now infamous 2008 White Paper says. Rumors have flown around over the years, with some even suggesting that Nakamoto is in fact Elon Musk. Whoever this person / persons is / are though, their BTC holding is thought to be 1,000,000, which would currently be worth around $17 billion!

Here is your number one source for expanded list of top blockchain investors

For a look at the top table for 2017, here’s a quick and expanded view. These guys are all major investors, pumping millions into the cryptocurrency and blockchain startups.

You’ll notice that the vast majority of these companies are American; that is symptomatic of a US-dominated market. But South Korea and Japan are growing markets in themselves, so expect this list to look more global at the end of 2018!