Paradigm, known for its early investments in projects like crypto exchange Uniswap and Ethereum scaling solution Optimism, has raised $850 million for an early-stage crypto venture fund. Founded in 2018 by Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam and former Sequoia Capital partner Matt Huang, Paradigm is one of the largest venture capital investors in the cryptocurrency industry. This new fund marks Paradigm’s first since Ehrsam stepped down from a leadership role in October.
“This is the sort of early-stage work that we love contributing to, and it’s what we’ll be increasingly focused on going forward,” Huang wrote in a blog post on Thursday.
In 2021, Paradigm raised a $2.5 billion fund, which was the largest-ever crypto investment vehicle at the time.
The pace of launching new cryptocurrency-focused funds has accelerated this year, with many existing funds also raising capital. This fundraising surge coincided with Bitcoin’s rally to record highs, driven by the introduction of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) investing directly in Bitcoin and recent indications that similar funds focused on Ether are likely to gain approval soon.
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