Portfolio Director of $5 billion fund Pantera Capital believes DeFi market is undervalued
“We are heavily moving into DeFi.” Pantera Capital, the longest operating US based bitcoin investment firm, now manages 5Bn worth of assets. But when it comes to decentralized finance, Pantera’s Franklin Bi still sees the space as undervalued. “As long as we're still looking at the fundamentals and drawing out what the multiples are there, we're still not at the point where you know, you're really starting to see the speculative mania.” On this episode of The Scoop, Franklin Bi Director of Portfolio Development at Pantera Capital joined host Frank Chaparro to discuss the current state of venture capital investment into crypto and how he’s finding value in an increasingly crowding ecosystem. “There's the crypto native side, which I think a lot of new investors coming into the space don't recognize yet. Things like staking, participating in the network, focusing on decentralized governance and how we play a role there. That's all stuff that looks super different from, you know, just showing up at a board meeting once a quarter to review the financials.” Pantera has been investing heavily into DeFi since 2017, and is continuing their ramp up as more investors begin to move away from simply an interest in novel technologies to searching for sustainable yield. Bi observed this shift in investor sentiment as traditional investors are slowly beginning to comprehend the margins of DeFi products. He expressed that certain digital assets companies are still relatively undervalued when compared to public market counterparts. “They're getting valued like traditional financial institutions, which to me, sounds like they're undervalued because the rate at which a DeFi project can grow is on a totally different scale. The profitability margins. totally different scale.” Bi went on to add, “It tells me that they're actually undervalued rather than overvalued.” Episode 62 of Season 3 of The Scoop was recorded at the 2021 Mainnet Conference with The Block’s Frank Chaparro and Franklin Bi, Director of Portfolio Development at Pantera Capital. Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblockcrypto.com. This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Bakkt, Kraken, and Exodus Bakkt® unlocks the $1.2+ trillion of digital assets that is currently held in cryptocurrencies, rewards and loyalty points, gaming assets and merchant stored value. We began in 2018 with the vision to bring trust and transparency to digital assets. Through the Bakkt Warehouse and Bakkt Bitcoin Futures and Options contracts, we serve institutional clients in an end-to-end regulated market with true price transparency. For consumers, Bakkt aggregates digital assets to enable instant liquidity and to empower users to trade, transfer and pay however they want. Visit Bakkt.com for more information About Kraken Whether you’re an experienced crypto trader or just starting out, Kraken has the tools to help you achieve financial freedom. With 50+ cryptocurrencies to choose from, industry-leading security and a wide variety of features to suit any investing strategy, Kraken puts the power in your hands to buy, sell and trade digital assets. Visit Kraken.com to get started today. About Exodus Exodus is leading the world out of traditional finance by building beautiful and user-friendly crypto products. Forget having to learn the nuances of different cryptocurrencies. Exodus is designed for everyone and hides the complex details behind a beautiful and intuitive interface. Buy and sell one cryptocurrency for another from the comfort of your wallet, in seconds. Funds remain under your full control. Secure, manage, stake, and exchange all of your favorite cryptocurrencies from one wallet. No account registration is required. Download Exodus at Exodus.com or directly from Google Play and the iOS App Store and you’re ready to go.