Episode 64 of Season 3 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block’s Frank Chaparro and Dan Tapiero, Founder & CEO at 10T Holdings.
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“It’s a global development.”
On this episode of The Scoop, 10T Founder and CEO Dan Tapiero joined host Frank Chaparro to discuss his insights into the globalization of crypto markets and how his macro investing strategy has seen his fund 10T pour hundreds of millions into crypto unicorns.
To date, Tapiero has already allocated the majority of some of his funds to companies such as Kraken, Deribit, and Ledger. “We have a portfolio of about 10 to 15 companies that are our targets.”
Tapiero mentioned how 10T has been helping investors adopt a macro crypto strategy, saying that he’s rejected some 50 plus deals in favor of a more careful approach with a closer guarantee to 5-10x returns. In spite of bear swings, Tapiero remains bullish. “I don’t think the valuations of things that we’re looking at are high to begin with.”
Tapiero also observed an “asymmetry” that he credits to the market’s resilience. He said he’s noticed that as bitcoin upside drives valuations up, any market downsides simply cause bitcoin company valuations to remain relatively neutral. He had this to say:
“I saw that you can have a productive portfolio of assets withstand an unbelievable bear market without even having a negative mark. And so in 2018, what brought me to this idea to some degree, was in ’18 bitcoin was down 80 percent, Ethereum 95 percent, but a basket of companies that we looked at broadly maintained their value. So to me, that’s like mind blowing. I can build a portfolio that has access to all of the upside, not just of Bitcoin and Ethereum, but the entire space without having to suffer, hopefully, much on the downside… For institutions, especially, this is a very attractive type of portfolio.”
Tapiero also sees a case for youth advocacy of cryptocurrencies as a means of holding sway over politics, with lobbyists backing certain political candidates based on their views of cryptocurrency. “I think there’s certainly a strong case to be made that as the younger people come into political power, that we’re going to have a transition in the way that people are viewing the crypto business
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