Bitcoin hedge fund launches with Silicon Valley and Wall St. support

CNN Money ^ | 19 March 2014 | Dan Primack

[Errant]

Last December, I wrote that Fortress Investment Group was preparing to launch a fund that would buy and hold Bitcoin. I also wrote that while details were scarce," there was "some relationship to a new Bitcoin-related fund raised by Pantera Capital, a San Francisco-based hedge fund whose clients are known to include several Fortress executives."

Here is what I now know: Fortress has invested directly in Pantera Bitcoin Partners, the limited liability company overseeing Pantera's Bitcoin fund. Moreover, all future purchases of Bitcoin or other crytpocurrencies by Fortress and its principals will be made via Pantera. In other words, there will not be a Fortress-branded fund. It remains unclear if my initial report was accurate and things changed, or if I was off track from the beginning.

One of the bread crumbs I apparently misread involved Steve Waterhouse, whose LinkedIn profile at the time listed him as both a managing director with Fortress and partner on an unnamed Bitcoin fund. Waterhouse has now formally left Fortress, to become a partner with Pantera.

In addition to Fortress, Pantera has received investments from venture capital firms Benchmark and Ribbit Captial. Those three firms also recently partnered to invest $20 million into Bitcoin "vault" company Xapo, which happens to hold Pantera Bitcoin Fund's assets (Pantera also made a small co-investment on that deal, which had not been previously disclosed).

[Errant]

"No word yet on how much any of the three funds have invested in Pantera, or how much Bitcoin they already have committed to the underlying hedge fund (which is open-ended). In fact, all we really know about the hedge fund is that it's more focused on long-term appreciation than active "trading," and that it had $147 million in gross asset value as of last December 4 (according to a regulatory filing). A source familiar with the fund said that at least some of the $147 million came from Fortress."

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[Errant]

Click to be Added / Removed.

[Errant]

UPDATES:

•Bitcoin Version 0.9.0 Brings Transaction Malleability Fixes, Branding Change

•CoinEX.pw: We Were Hacked, But Will Cover All Losses

[cincinnati65]

Geez, why don’t we bundle subprime mortgages while we’re at it......?

[House Atreides]

Geez, why don’t we bundle subprime mortgages while we’re at it......?
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Now that’s an idea.

[Errant]

Would you like some SDOs with your subprimes?

[Errant]

SDOs Synthetic CDOs

[Star Traveler]

That’s going to drive the price up. I don’t think it’s going to go below $500 again. I was hoping so I could get in on some.

[Errant]

Don’t know about below $500, but we may see the $500 range again today or tomorrow.

[PoloSec]

It’s still a good time to buy, you don’t have to buy a whole coin you know, you can buy bits of coin, most wallets will sell at minimum of $20.00, some maybe less, accumulation can happen quickly.

Just be aware, great reward comes at great risk, if you can’t stand the heat stay out of the kitchen, and a final cliche I like most...You Snooze You Lose!

Oh and the Boat hasn’t even left the dock yet!

A six hundred dollar investment now could be worth 6000 next year...”OR NOT”, but so far ROI has been extremely good, for those who have foresight, instead of wallowing in hindsight, which I for one am tired of hindsight.

[TsonicTsunami08]

Smart money continues to pile into Bitcoin. The carpet biters will be flossing their teeth heavy on the Stainmaster. Bankers will scream “ thin air money’ !

If you work in the financial sector you would be wise to plan your transition into the new economy.

“That’s going to drive the price up. I don’t think it’s going to go below $500 again. I was hoping so I could get in on some”.

Anyone exchanging fiat for Bitcoin at $1000.00 or below in the future will be considered an early adopter. Get it in small amounts, it will grow in time even by conservative projections. The main thing is to take action, this way you can learn how to secure it properly.