Which crypto VCs are behind the crypto reserve strategies of listed companies?

Author: Zen, PANews

In recent years, more and more listed companies have included crypto assets in their balance sheets, from MicroStrategy taking the lead in betting on Bitcoin, to Trump Media & Technology Group raising $2.5 billion to build a Bitcoin treasury, to a number of traditional industrial and technology giants testing the waters of stablecoins or Ethereum strategic reserves on a small scale. According to BitcoinTreasuries , as of July 17, 154 listed companies have adopted Bitcoin strategic reserves; according to a research report released by DWF Labs at the end of June this year, listed companies have invested a total of $76 billion in crypto assets.

In addition to the Trump administration's crypto-friendly policies and the demonstration role of MicroStrategy, this wave is also supported by crypto venture capital and Web3 funds that focus on institutional-level digital asset layout. They provide listed companies with a full range of solutions such as cryptocurrency purchases, tokenized equity, stablecoin settlement and on-chain treasury management through leading PIPE (Private Investment in Public Equity), convertible bonds, reverse mergers and other methods.

The main institutions promoting the encryption of listed companies have expanded from the early Pantera Capital, Animoca Brands, and Sora Ventures to DWF Labs, Big Brain Holdings, GSR, Bain Capital Crypto, etc. Recently, more and more crypto VCs have begun to join this ranks.

Pantera Capital

Pantera has invested in several DAT (Digital Asset Treasury) companies, the most famous of which is Twenty One Capital (NASDAQ: CEP), a financial services company led by long-time Bitcoin evangelist Jack Mallers. Pantera is also the institution that invested the most money in its PIPE financing round. Twenty One is trying to emulate MSTR's strategy and has the support of three industry giants: Tether, SoftBank, and Cantor Fitzgerald. Pantera pointed out that Twenty One is just big enough to use all capital market tools, and its market capitalization is also small, so it has the flexibility to grow BPS faster than MSTR and trade at a higher premium.

Additionally, Pantera led an investment in DeFi Development Corp (NASDAQ: DFDV, formerly Janover), which helped kick off the DAT trend in the U.S. DFDV, led by CEO Joseph Onorati and CIO Parker White, is taking a page from MSTR’s playbook but applying it to Solana. Pantera believes Solana is an interesting alternative to BTC for several reasons: it may have more upside than BTC due to its shorter maturation period; it has higher volatility than BTC, which means that higher returns can be achieved by taking advantage of this volatility; its staking income portion can contribute to the growth of SOL per share; and Solana has more untapped demand because there are fewer alternatives currently available.

In addition to supporting public companies that hold Bitcoin and Sol treasuries, Pantera has also invested in Sharplink Gaming (SBET), the first Ethereum digital asset finance company in the United States. SBET was led by Consensys, a software company headed by Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin, to launch the ETH treasury strategy, and Pantera has been working with its team for more than a decade.

Galaxy Digital

In May 2025, Trump Media announced that it would raise approximately $2.5 billion for the construction of the Bitcoin Treasury by issuing $1.5 billion in common stock and $1 billion in convertible bonds. Galaxy Digital not only served as the financial advisor for the debt and equity financing, but also as one of the lead underwriters, designing the financing structure for the company and promising to provide liquidity support.

Previously, Galaxy Digital has assisted non-crypto native companies such as GameStop and AMC in conducting crypto payment and treasury experiments, and served as an advisor in several SPAC mergers, pushing target companies to include digital assets in their strategic asset allocation. Galaxy has participated in more than $800 million in crypto-related financing for listed companies between 2024 and 2025, covering multiple levels of equity investment, debt financing and advisory services.

Animoca Brands

In July 2025, Animoca announced that it had signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with catering and packaged food company DayDayCook (DDC). According to a joint statement issued by both parties, Animoca will invest up to $100 million in Bitcoin into DDC's Bitcoin treasury revenue strategy. Animoca co-founder Yat Siu will also join DDC's Bitcoin Visionary Council to provide strategic guidance for its treasury management and revenue optimization. DDC Enterprise announced its Bitcoin treasury reserve plan in May this year, with the goal of purchasing 5,000 Bitcoins within three years, and purchased 21 Bitcoins for its corporate treasury reserves that month.

In addition, as a well-known investor in the Web3 industry that has emerged in the NFT boom, Animoca itself is also seeking opportunities to go public in the United States. According to the Financial Times, Yat Siu said that Animoca is planning to go public in New York, striving to seize the "unique opportunity" provided by the Trump administration's digital asset regulation approach. With the decline of NFT and GameFi projects, in addition to investment, Animoca Brands' latest financial report also shows that it is transforming into consulting services, covering token consulting, token economics, marketing, listing consulting, node operations and trading services.

Sora Ventures

In December 2024, Sora Ventures announced the launch of a $150 million fund with the goal of replicating the MicroStrategy-style Bitcoin treasury management model for Asian listed companies. The fund will focus on listed companies in markets such as Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan and South Korea. The first beneficiary is Metaplanet, a company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Japan, whose stock price soared by more than 1,000% in 2024, becoming the best performing stock on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

In May this year, Sora Ventures entered the public market and changed its name to AsiaStrateg through a strategic merger with Nasdaq-listed Hong Kong luxury goods distributor Top Win International. The merger gave TopWin access to Sora's Bitcoin expertise, which will participate in TopWin's investment and treasury management. TopWin has announced that it will adopt a Bitcoin reserve strategy and plans to use $150 million in funds to support Bitcoin treasury projects of at least ten listed companies in the Asian market.

Recently, a Bitcoin investor alliance including Sora Ventures, AsiaStrategy, Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich and Korean investment institution KCGI raised a total of approximately US$25 million by issuing approximately 58,862,249 new shares to SGA, a software service provider listed on KOSDAQ in South Korea. SGA plans to use the new capital to support its daily operations and develop new business plans in the field of digital assets.

DWF Labs

In June 2025, Interactive Strength (Nasdaq: TRNR), a fitness equipment and digital fitness service company, announced the signing of a "FET Token Treasury" financing framework with a total scale of up to US$500 million, with the first US$55 million jointly invested by ATW Partners and DWF Labs. The funds will be used exclusively to purchase Fetch.ai's FET tokens through the BitGo platform as on-chain configuration assets in its balance sheet. TRNR said that if the plan can be fully implemented, it is expected to have the largest publicly listed crypto asset library focusing on AI tokens. According to a research article officially released by DWF Labs, it will continue to explore new opportunities to build similar transactions in the US stock market.

Primitive Ventures

According to Primitive Ventures, since the beginning of 2025, the agency has begun to focus on "Digital Asset Reserve PIPE" as a key research direction, systematically screening and participating in various representative transactions, using capital to support listed companies that use Ethereum-based crypto assets as their core reserve strategy. Primitive Ventures also participated in SharpLink Gaming's announcement in May of the completion of a $425 million private equity financing. Primitive believes that BTC-based strategies mainly rely on financing to purchase coins, do not have asset self-generated income, and have higher leverage risks. SBET has the potential to directly utilize ETH's staking income and the DeFi ecosystem to achieve compound growth on the chain and create real value for shareholders.

Big Brain Holdings

Big Brain Holdings, a US crypto venture capital fund, has recently become an important supporter of Upexi (NASDAQ:UPXI), a consumer product development, manufacturing and distribution company. In July 2025, Upexi announced a convertible bond issuance worth $150 million, with the issuer using locked Solana (SOL) tokens as collateral, with a coupon rate of 2% for a period of 24 months. Big Brain Holdings is the leading investor in the note financing. After the financing is completed, Upexi expects to hold approximately 1.65 million SOL, exceeding the previously disclosed 735,000 Solana, significantly increasing the size of the company's on-chain treasury.

GSR

Upexi's expansion into the cryptocurrency sector dates back at least three months ago - in April 2025, GSR led a $100 million private placement (PIPE) to Upexi, with funds used to purchase and pledge Solana tokens. This move helped Upexi establish a crypto treasury with Solana at its core. Public reports show that after the deal was announced, Upexi's stock price rose by about 700%, highlighting the market's enthusiastic response to the company's digital asset strategy. GSR said the deal reflects the growing demand for high-quality crypto assets from traditional capital. In addition, GSR also participated in SharpLink's $425 million private placement financing.

Other participants

Many well-known crypto VCs also participated in the $100 million private placement of Upexi led by GSR and the $425 million private placement of SharpLink Gaming led by Consensys.

In addition, several crypto venture capital firms also participated in the "largest initial financing in the history of a public Bitcoin financial reserve company" completed by ProCap Financial. ProCap Financial was formed by the merger of former Morgan Creek partner Anthony Pompliano's private company ProCap BTC and Nasdaq SPAC Columbus Circle Capital. Pompliano also announced that he had completed a $750 million financing and would focus on purchasing Bitcoin and developing profitable financial products based on his holdings.

According to public information, among the three major private placements:

Institutions participating in the private placement of SharpLink Gaming and Upexi include: GSR, White Star Capital, Hivemind Capital
Institutions participating in SharpLink Gaming and ProCap Financial include: ParaFi Capital, Arrington Capital
Institutions that participated in Upexi’s private placement only include: Big Brain Holdings, Anagram, Delphi Ventures, Maelstrom, Arthur Hayes Family Office, Borderless, Morgan Creek, Elune Capital, Delta Blockchain Fund
Institutions that participated in the ProCap Financial private placement only include: Magnetar Capital, Woodline Partners LP, Anson Funds, RK Capital, Off the Chain Capital, Blockchain.com, BSQ Capital Partners, FalconX
Institutions that participated in SharpLink Gaming's private placement only include: Electric Capital, Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, Hypersphere, Primitive Ventures, Republic Digital

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