Bear Markets, Regulations and That Bain Crypto Photo: A Chat With Pantera Capital’s Chief of Staff

In her relation arsenic main of unit astatine Pantera Capital, a task superior steadfast that had $5.8 cardinal successful crypto assets nether absorption astatine the extremity of past year, Emma Rose Bienvenu balances providing operational enactment for the steadfast with helping portfolio companies navigate the turbulent waters of crypto regulations.

Bienvenu joined Pantera successful April 2021 arsenic integer plus prices rallied and crypto-specific task superior funds launched with caller grounds sizes. Aset prices pulled backmost astatine the opening of 2022, but that had small interaction connected VC investments.

“It’s not slowing down astatine all,” said Bienvenu. “I deliberation there’s a bully lawsuit survey here. If you look astatine the brainsick returns we posted implicit the past 2 years, those kinds of returns lone travel from deploying successful a carnivore market.”

Founded successful 2003 by Tiger Management alum Dan Morehead, Pantera Capital started arsenic a planetary hedge money earlier making the power to integer assets a decennary later. Portfolio companies person included payments institution Circle and crypto speech Coinbase, among galore others. The steadfast had experienced implicit a twelvemonth of “hyper growth” astatine the clip Bienvenu joined successful 2021, she said.

Bienvenu initially served arsenic main of unit for Pantera Co-Chief Investment Officer Joey Krug earlier her responsibilities expanded. Bienvenu’s relation present includes moving with the concern team, tackling operational problems that originate and helping retired portfolio companies, who often person young founders caller to the satellite of business.

Bienvenu said operational enactment for founders includes concern basics similar creating an organizational illustration and formulating a hiring process. Pantera besides helps the startup trade a level services radical truthful that the exertion tin standard with the company.

Last year, integer plus prices rallied and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Paradigm launched record-breaking crypto funds. Did the plus terms pullback astatine the opening of 2022 dilatory task superior investments?

“These are 10-year vehicles, truthful that superior is locked into the abstraction successful a mode that it hasn’t been before. I deliberation you’re going to spot that truly creaseless the volatility implicit time,” said Bienvenu.

As crypto money sizes grow, an expanding fig of firms, including a16z and Sequoia Capital, person filed to go registered concern advisers (RIAs) – a determination that skirts regulations that headdress cryptocurrency investments for task superior firms astatine 20% of a fixed fund.

Asked if Pantera plans to go a registered concern adviser, Bienvenu declined to comment.

Earlier this month, Bain Capital launched a caller $560 cardinal crypto fund coincidentally connected International Women’s Day and drew backlash for the accompanying representation of the fund’s all-male team. The contention renewed questions astir diverseness successful the crypto industry.

“I deliberation that there’s a reflexive presumption that the information that determination aren’t galore women [in crypto] means that it’s a hostile situation for women,” said Bienvenu. “And, anecdotally, I could not find that to beryllium farther from my experience. I’ve ne'er been successful an situation that’s truthful purely meritcratic.”

However, Bienvenu said the crypto ecosystem should enactment to broadcast that it is unfastened to women to dispel the myth.

“I deliberation the deficiency of women is simply a broader issue,” she continued. “There are truthful galore engineers successful the space, adjacent investors and CFOs and others successful non-technical roles. And women are conscionable truly underrepresented successful that [developer] group.”

Bienvenu uses her inheritance arsenic a lawyer to tackle regulatory issues, a relation that fewer successful the nationalist assemblage privation to instrumentality connected due to the fact that of the risks but that she views arsenic a benignant of nationalist service.

“I don’t deliberation of it arsenic lobbying for immoderate peculiar argumentation agenda, but there’s specified a deficiency of knowing connected the portion of the regulators and elected officials connected conscionable however the tech works,” she said. The results are argumentation proposals that anyone who understands the tech would spot arsenic unworkable oregon unenforceable.

Asked however she advises companies connected navigating a regulatory situation that’s perpetually successful flux, Bienvenu said, “Honestly, it’s a challenge.”

Bienvenu said an important portion of the process is sitting down with the startup squad to marque definite they astatine slightest broadly recognize what regulatory areas they’re operating in, what laws presently beryllium and however Pantera expects the courts and regulators to determine connected cardinal decisions successful the area. Pantera past helps portfolio companies devise a merchandise roadmap that accounts for the regulatory uncertainty.

“If we bash it carefully, we’ll minimize the disruption down the enactment erstwhile the ineligible questions bash get figured out,” explained Bienvenu.