Pantera Capital, a prominent crypto-focused asset management firm, recorded a significant profit for its Liquid Token Fund in the opening quarter of 2024. This positive performance came despite the fund selling off large portions of its Bitcoin and Ethereum-linked assets over the past few months.
How Pantera Capital Grew Its Crypto Fund In Q1 2024
According to a Bloomberg report, Pantera Capital’s Liquid Token Fund posted a 66% gain in the first quarter of the year. This substantial return was reportedly driven by investment in digital assets, most notably Solana (SOL).
The value of Solana has nearly doubled in the past months, with the cryptocurrency crossing $200 briefly earlier this week. It is worth mentioning that Pantera had launched a $250 million initiative to purchase discounted Solana tokens from the estate of now-bankrupt FTX, as reported by NewsBTC in March.
As of this writing, the Solana token is valued at around $179, reflecting a 2.3% price increase in the past 24 hours. With a market capitalization, the altcoin ranks as the fifth largest cryptocurrency in the sector.
SOL price on the daily timeframe | Source: TradingView
A shareholder letter (seen by Bloomberg) revealed that profits from smaller-cap cryptocurrencies and DeFi tokens, including Ribbon Finance (RBN), Aevo, and Stacks (STX), also contributed to the strong performance of the Liquid Token Fund so far this year.
Based on data from TradingView, the RBN token is up by over 315% year-to-date, while Aevo has soared by nearly 200% in the space of three months. The value of the Stacks token has also witnessed immense growth, jumping by more than 110% in 2024.
Pantera’s Crypto Fund Downsizes Its Bitcoin Holdings
Pantera’s Liquid Token Fund has also cut back on its positions in Bitcoin and tokens linked to the Ethereum network over the first quarter. According to the shareholder letter, one of the rationales behind the reduced exposure to Ethereum-linked coins is the slim odds of approval of spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States
Portfolio manager Cosmo Jiang said in an interview:
We’d been pretty heavy in Bitcoin until the start of the year, and really like each month we’ve decreased that Bitcoin position meaningfully.
The price of Bitcoin climbed by more than 60% in the first quarter of the year, a rise that has been largely attributed to the launch of the spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US. The premier cryptocurrency reached a new all-time high of $73,798 in March, albeit it is currently 5% below this price.
The price of Bitcoin attempts to break above $70,000 on the daily timeframe | Source: BTCUSDT chart on TradingView