Pantera Capital Announces Venture With Benchmark, Fortress Investment Group and Ribbit Capital for Bitcoin Investments
Pantera Capital Management LP (“Pantera”), an investment firm founded in 2003, announced today that the firm is focusing its investment advisory services exclusively on Bitcoin, other digital currencies and companies in the space.
The firm also announced today that Benchmark, Fortress Investment Group and Ribbit Capital are acquiring an interest in Pantera Bitcoin Partners LLC. These shareholders and their principals will generally make their purchases of Bitcoin and other digital currencies via investments in Pantera.
“Bitcoin is an entirely new thing – a ‘post-currency’ ledger – which has the potential to transform the way we use money. We believe Bitcoin is at an inflection point, making it the right time for a transition to more institutional management,” said Dan Morehead, Pantera’s founder and chief executive officer. “We are joining forces with three leading-edge investment firms to drive this transition and bring seasoned financial experience to this market.”
“We are in the business of helping nascent but potentially world changing ideas take hold,” said Matt Cohler, general partner at Benchmark. “By teaming up with Pantera, Fortress and Ribbit, we believe we can help meaningfully support the growing Bitcoin ecosystem.”
“In our business, we closely follow developments in trading, exchanges and global commerce, and we see potential for the broader adoption of Bitcoin and related technologies to reshape the global payment space,” said Mike Novogratz, Fortress principal and head of the company’s Liquid Markets business. “This partnership brings together leading companies with a range of relevant expertise, well-positioned to lead and capitalize on a potentially transformative evolution.”
“Bitcoin stands to do for money what TCP/IP did for information, drastically changing how people all over the world transact,” said Micky Malka, founder and general partner at Ribbit Capital. “Ribbit is proud to be partnering with Pantera, Benchmark and Fortress in investing behind the growth of this powerful new network and technology.”
Until recently, Pantera Capital focused on global macro hedge fund investments. The firm was founded by Dan Morehead, who was chief financial officer and head of Macro Trading at Tiger Management. Morehead also co-founded and was CEO of Atriax, an electronic foreign exchange platform. He was also global head of FX Options at Deutsche Bank in London and managed a global macro fund and derivatives trading units in North America and Japan at Bankers Trust. He graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a B.S. in Civil Engineering and received the Carmichael Prize for an outstanding thesis.
About Pantera Capital
Pantera Capital is an investment firm focused exclusively on Bitcoin, other digital currencies, and the companies in the space. The firm was founded by Daniel W. Morehead in 2003 with a focus on global macro hedge fund investments. Benchmark, Fortress Investment Group and Ribbit Capital are shareholders of Pantera Bitcoin Partners LLC, a subsidiary of Pantera Capital.
For more information about Pantera Capital, visit http://www.panteracapital.com/
About Benchmark
Benchmark’s mission is to back great entrepreneurs who are changing the world. The firm is privileged to work alongside men and women who are taking big ideas and transforming them into successful companies. Benchmark investments include companies such as Grubhub, Instagram, New Relic, Nextdoor, Snapchat, Twitter, Uber, Yelp, Zendesk, and Zillow. Benchmark has offices in Woodside and San Francisco.
For more information about Benchmark, please visit http://www.benchmark.com/
About Fortress
Fortress Investment Group LLC is a leading, highly diversified global investment firm with approximately $61.8 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2013. Founded in 1998, Fortress manages assets on behalf of over 1,500 institutional clients and private investors worldwide across a range of private equity, credit, liquid hedge funds, and traditional asset management strategies. Fortress is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:FIG).
For more information about Fortress, please visit http://www.fortress.com/
About Ribbit Capital
Ribbit Capital is a venture capital firm that invests globally in unique individuals and brands who are aiming to disrupt financial services. Headquartered in Palo Alto, Ribbit believes the category is profoundly under-innovated and is looking to support entrepreneurs who have already launched the businesses of the future.
For more information about Ribbit Capital, please visit http://www.ribbitcap.com/
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