Sequoia Capital is one of the oldest and most successful venture capital firms in the world. It is launching its first crypto-focused fund since its inception in 1972.
The Sequoia Crypto Fund will primarily invest in “liquid tokens” — which are tokens listed on and unlisted crypto exchanges — Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia Capital, said in an interview.
The size of the fund is $500-600 million and is part ofSequoia Capital Fund the larger, which was established last October. As part of a restructuring of VC firms, the Sequoia Capital Fund currently holds all of the company’s investments in the United States and Europe. including shares in publicly traded companies
In addition to the crypto sub-fund, Sequoia will continue to invest in crypto startups in its $7.5 billion round of seed, venture, growth, and mutual fund expansion.
Sequoia has been investing in crypto since 2015 in both equity and token equity. Last year, 20% of the company’s new investments in the US and Europe were in crypto. Its affiliates include FTX, Fireblocks, StarkWare, and Filecoin.
And when asked why it is launching a cryptocurrency-only fund right now, Maguire said several founders have asked Sequoia to take a more active role in managing its tokens. “This new fund gives us greater flexibility to participate more deeply,” he said.
This means that instead of investing and holding only tokens, Sequoia will now begin staking, providing liquidity, engaging in governance, and trading. “Our creator network at Ethereum, Solana, other major DeFi protocols and others has urged us to do the same,” Sequoia said.
Sequoia as a company believes that crypto is more than a sector. It is a fundamental change that will affect all sectors in the long term.
Michelle Bailhe, another partner at Sequoia, told me in an interview that “crypto is just getting started,” meaning crypto is still just getting started and going to get even bigger from now on.
Maguire said, “We are still in its early stages and Crypto will be the biggest megatrend in the next 20-30 years.” Sequoia also has a particular interest in cross-chain and the GameFi project, Maguire added: multi-chain is the future
As for its interest in specific blockchain protocols, Bailhe said that Sequoia is monitoring developer activity across networks including Terra, Avalanche, NEAR, Polkadot and Cosmos, but there are still no clear signs that any network will be able to see such success. Solana
The Sequoia Crypto Fund will have flexibility to invest in projects, but the size could range from $100,000 to $50 million, Maguire said.