10T Holdings, which manages $1.2 billion in assets but has run out of money, gave the money to whom?

Author: Zen, PANews
In the bear market, venture capital's interest in cryptocurrencies has slowed down significantly. 10T Holdings ("10T"), a well-known crypto investment institution with three funds, is now "out of money". This institution, which manages $1.2 billion in assets, can only wait for the next bull market or further opening of crypto IPOs. The two founders behind it are raising funds for their newly launched funds and will continue to focus on the crypto industry.
10T's name comes from founder Dan Tapiero's expectations for the crypto industry. In 2019, he predicted that the total market value of cryptocurrencies would increase 30 times and eventually reach $10 trillion, so he named his cryptocurrency investment fund 10T. Unlike other digital asset funds such as Paradigm, 10T focuses on investing in companies in the mid- and late-stage digital asset ecosystem. In his opinion, there are many venture funds that provide financing for seed and early-stage companies, but there are almost no funds dedicated to providing late-stage funds and liquidity. 10T provides liquidity directly to early-stage funds and investors who hope to get some chips from early investments, so as the "taker" of early investors, 10T has undoubtedly chosen the "Hard" mode for itself.
Since the launch of its first fund in early 2021, 10T Holdings has a total of three funds with $1.2 billion in assets under management. Through the primary and secondary markets, 10T invests in mature companies with large-scale operations. Its investment portfolio is mostly well-known companies and projects in the crypto industry, such as Ledger, Kraken, eToro, Yuga Labs, Helium developer Nova Labs, Deribit and Animoca Brands.
10T Holdings’ core team
As a long-time advocate of gold and Bitcoin, well-known investor Dan Tapiero has 30 years of experience in macro and commodity investment and trading, research and economics, and entrepreneurship. He is at the heart of 10T Holdings as Managing Partner, CEO and CIO. Tapiero has extensive relationships in the institutional investment management field. Prior to founding 10T, he founded DTAP Capital Advisors, a global macro investment fund founded in 2003, and then founded the physical precious metals platform Gold Bullion International (GBI) in 2014. The core similarities between the theory of Bitcoin and physical gold helped him realize the possibility of growth in the digital asset ecosystem.
Dan Tapiero began to pay attention to Bitcoin in 2013, but initially sold it because of its small market value and the idea that it was a "plaything for venture capital." As the cryptocurrency field developed, he found that he had ignored the value of Bitcoin, and his concept then changed to believe that it could become a financial system, and he became a staunch supporter and evangelist.
In February 2021, Tapiero launched a $200 million fund, and 10T officially began investing in the crypto industry. In September of the same year, 10T's two funds, 10T Fund and 10T DAE Expansion Fund, had received a total of nearly $389 million in capital commitments. Together with co-investments and sub-advisors, 10T raised a total of nearly $750 million for its strategy. At the end of the same year, 10T launched a third digital asset investment fund, intending to raise $500 million, but the actual amount was not disclosed in the end. 10T's investors include diversified asset allocators, including high-net-worth individuals, public pension plans, endowment funds, foundations, and family offices, including the Michigan Municipal Employees Retirement System and Alan Howard.
Stan Miroshnik is a partner and co-founder of 10T. He has nearly 20 years of experience in investment banking, corporate finance and venture capital, from which he has developed deep global relationships with entrepreneurs, companies, regulators, financial technology and blockchain investors in the digital asset ecosystem. Stan focuses on the financial technology and digital asset sectors. He is a prolific early investor and has served as an advisor and board member for several early-stage companies. He has served as a managing director at Element/Actual Group and Tangent Capital Partners, investment banks focused on digital assets, and CEO of The Argon Group, a digital financial investment bank specializing in crypto capital markets.
In addition to Dan and Stan, several partners of 10T also have extensive experience and connections in the investment field. Eric Vincent is a partner and president of 10T. He has more than 25 years of experience in creating, developing and managing alternative asset management companies. Prior to joining 10T, Eric served as the head of business development at Mubadala Capital, the alternative investment department of the UAE Mubadala Sovereign Fund (Mubadala Investment Company); Joe Majocha is a partner and chief financial officer of 10T. He was previously the managing director of Two Sigma Investments and served as the chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Two Sigma's private investment department; In addition, Michael J. Dubilier, a partner and vice chairman of 10T, entered the investment field in 1983. He has more than 30 years of experience in private equity and direct investment in industrial, consumer and technology companies, as well as entrepreneurship.
10T has deployed all the funds, and the two founders will set up their own businesses this year
At the beginning of this year, 10T quietly changed internally. In an interview with The Block in February, Tapiero said that 10T would no longer conduct any financing and would not launch a new 10T fund. The two founders chose to "part ways" and set up new funds. According to LinkedIn information, Tapiero and Miroshnik set up investment institutions in January this year, but both retained their positions at 10T. According to a report by Bloomberg in May this year, an anonymous person said that 10T Holdings had deployed all the funds raised previously. Therefore, 10T is facing the dilemma of "no money to cook", and can only do the post-investment work of previous investments and wait for exit.
According to The Block in February, Tapiero said he was establishing his own private equity firm 1RoundTable Partners (1RT), with the goal of raising $1 billion in funds by the end of the third quarter. It has currently received support from well-known investors such as Alan Howard, known as the "God of Macro."
As an evolution and continuation of 10T Holdings' investment strategy, 1RT's core team is basically from 10T. Tapiero invited 10T partners Michael Dubilier and Eric Vincent to join, and Joe Majocha also served as CFO at 1Rountable. In addition, Tapiero also recruited former Sotheby's CEO Tad Smith as an advisory partner. In terms of investment strategy, 1RT's focus is still on supporting mid- and late-stage digital asset companies that "have the potential for significant price appreciation in the next 5 to 10 years." According to relevant materials, 1RT's flagship fund will have a 5-year investment period and a 10-year fund period, and its investment focus will be roughly divided into three categories: new era digital asset ecosystem, digital asset ecosystem infrastructure, and metaverse categories, including companies focusing on NFTs.
Stan Miroshnik, another founder of 10T, also set up his own company. In May this year, Bloomberg reported that TenSquared Capital (10SQ), a new venture capital firm focusing on cryptocurrencies, was seeking to raise $200 million. According to internal documents reviewed by Bloomberg, Stan Miroshnik served as CEO and managing partner of 10SQ, and several former 10T executives also joined him. Unlike 10T, which focuses on mid- and late-stage projects, 10SQ, led by Stan Miroshnik, who is good at early-stage investment, intends to support crypto projects at all stages through equity investment. Based on the funds raised, 10SQ has made two investments, including a crypto wallet infrastructure startup.
Invest in star projects and look forward to crypto IPOs
10T focuses on investing in mid- and late-stage projects in the digital asset ecosystem, and the scale of the funds it participates in is relatively large. For example, 10T has publicly led three projects this year, the smallest of which is Blockworks' $12 million announced in May this year, while QuickNode and AI Metaverse received $60 million and $54 million in funding respectively.
Most of the projects invested by 10T have matured and are well-known in the industry. Companies in its investment portfolio, such as Circle, eToro, and Kraken, have been preparing for listing in recent years, and 10T also wants to exit through an initial public offering (IPO). However, due to the impact of the cryptocurrency bear market and the obstacles of strict regulatory review, these companies have not yet successfully listed. However, Tapiero is still optimistic about the prospects for cryptocurrency companies to go public. He believes that the second half of 2024 and 2025 may be a good time, and predicts that some cryptocurrency companies will be listed by then.
Metaverse & NFT
Animoca Brands: Metaverse gaming and venture capital giant. Candy Digital: Digital collection development company, the official digital collection partner of Major League Baseball, Netflix, WWE, Getty Images and Race Team Alliance. Doodles: Community-driven NFT brand Futureverse: AI Metaverse startup that integrates 11 Metaverse infrastructure and content companies into a collaborative ecosystem and provides the basic components for building Metaverse applications. Yuga Labs: The developer of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), which also owns CryptoPunks and Meebits IP.
Infrastructure & Tools
Bitfury: Blockchain infrastructure provider that develops and provides software and hardware solutions required for enterprises, governments, organizations and individuals to securely transfer assets on the blockchain. CertiK: Blockchain security and code audit agency that uses artificial intelligence technology to protect and monitor blockchain protocols and smart contracts. Figment: Blockchain infrastructure and service provider that provides enterprise-grade node and staking infrastructure, Hubble Web 3 browser and developer tools. Qredo: Crypto custody and settlement technology company that provides decentralized crypto custody secured by multi-party computing (MPC). QuickNode: Blockchain infrastructure company that provides node infrastructure and application programming interface (API) for developers. Ledger: Crypto hardware wallet provider Nova Labs: The development company behind the Helium blockchain. Helium is a decentralized wireless network Helium, InfStones: Blockchain infrastructure provider that supports thousands of nodes on more than 50 public blockchains through its universal platform.
monetary assets:
Huobi: Cryptocurrency exchange, founded in 2013 Gemini: Cryptocurrency exchange, founded in 2014 Kraken: Cryptocurrency exchange, founded in 2011 2TM Group: Brazilian crypto company, whose cryptocurrency exchange Mercado Bitcoin was founded in 2013 Deribit: Cryptocurrency derivatives trading platform and the world's largest institutional-grade cryptocurrency options exchange eToro: Social trading investment network that enables users to watch other users' financial trading activities, copy these activities and make their own trades. Circle: Developer and issuer of stablecoin USDC Figure: Blockchain lending company, using the Provenance blockchain for loan issuance, equity management, private equity services, banking and payments. Ledn: Canadian crypto lending platform
other:
Blockworks: A news media and information platform that includes editorial websites, newsletters, podcasts, conferences, research and data platforms. TRM Labs: A blockchain intelligence company that helps financial institutions, cryptocurrency businesses and government agencies detect and investigate cryptocurrency-related financial crimes and fraud.