Researcher Reveals Largest Altcoin Holdings By Crypto VCs

Thor Hartvigsen, a data-driven DeFi researcher based in Copenhagen has used the on-chain analysis tools of Watchers, Nansen, DeBank and Arkham to examine the altcoin holdings of the 20 largest crypto funds. Together, these have a total of over 1,200 wallets.

In a thread on Twitter, Hartvigsen presents the eight largest VCs, their largest crypto holdings and recent investments. As the analyst points out, altcoin holdings can generally be considered an indication of strong investments. However, there is also no guarantee that VCs are “smart money,” since “they often act completely reckless.”

“So use this info as you wish – to countertrade VCs or identify possibly strong narratives / trades from the funds that are still alive today,” Hartvigsen stressed, identifying Jump Trading as the largest crypto VC.

VC wallet hunting

The top 20 crypto funds have 1200+ wallets combined. I've been monitoring these closely throughout Jan/Feb

I present 8 of the largest VCs, their biggest holdings and recent investmentspic.twitter.com/SlCWGeOcla

— ThorHartvigsen (@ThorHartvigsen) February 16, 2023

The company has a total balance of $3.8 billion, with the largest altcoin in the portfolio by far being Ethereum with $3.25 billion. Following behind are Shiba Inu ($328 million), MATIC ($81 million), USDC ($50 million), wBTC ($50 million), LINK ($20 million), and COMP ($14 million).

Smaller positions between $1 million and $10 million include: HFT, AVAX, SNX, CHZ, MASK, AAVE, and Lido Finance (LDO). Hartvigsen notes that these are only EVM wallets and there are certainly several wallets that include SOL and wETH on Solana.

The second largest crypto VC is Wintermute with a total balance of $401 million. This VC also holds a majority in Ethereum ($301 million in wETH).

That position is followed by $47 million in OP, $22.2 million in LDO, $17 million ETH, $7.5 million GALA (the largest increase this month), $7.3 million FTM, $6.6 million DYDX, $6 million in BLUR, $5.7 million in HFT, and $5.1 million in MATIC.

Wintermute made its largest sale in recent history in February, when it sold about $4 million worth of VC Ape Coin (APE).

Crypto VCs Bet Big On LDO, ETH, MATIC

Paradigma follows in third place with a total balance of $382 million. Paradigma’s largest holding is Lido Finance (LDO) with $195 million, followed by $166.5 million in ETH and $22.47 million in MKR. Other investments include Optimism, Synthetix, DYDX, Osmosis, Uniswap, Starkware and others.

“Interestingly, Paradigm is one of the largest investors in Lido Finance. As of now, 79m of their 100m LDO tokens have been unlocked (fully unlocked May 1st 2023),” Hartvigsen commented.

In fourth place comes a16z with $310 million in crypto. The VC has been in the headlines recently for its influence on Uniswap’s vote on deploying on BNB chain via Wormwhole. a16z controls more than 4% of all UNI tokens ($257 million in UNI). The next largest holdings of a16z are $15.5 million USDC/ETH LP and $13.7 million USDCOMP.

Following behind is Amber Group with $245 million, which also relies heavily on Ethereum ($119 million in ETH). After that comes $74 million in USDC/USDT, $21.5 million in FET and $8.3 million in DYDX.

Notably, according to the analyst, of all the liquid staking providers, Amber Group is most convinced by SWISE ($2.2 million). Also worth noting, the entire $21.5 million in FET (FetchAI) was bought in the last three days.

VC Blockchain Capital owns about $87.2 million in crypto, with MATIC ($21 million), AAVE ($18.4 million), UNI ($15.7 million), ETH ($11 million), and RPL ($5 million) being the largest holdings. Hartvigsen remarked:

Interesting to see MATIC as their largest public position. Much of this was even acquired in 2023. Polygon is launching their zkEVM the 27th of March. Meanwhile, Blockchain Cap also co-led the zkSync series C funding round with Dragonfly worth $200m.

Dragonfly Capital has a total balance sheet of $90.4 million in crypto and is also betting big on Lido Finance ($46 million), followed by TON ($13.3 million), MATIC ($10.6 million) and FXS ($7 million).

DeFiance Capital has a similar balance of $85 million in crypto, with much of it parked in stablecoins USDC, DAI and USDT ($57 million). Strikingly, DeFiance Capital also has its largest investment in Lido Finance ($17 million), followed by AAVE ($3.1 million) and DODO ($3 million).

At press time, the Lido Finance (LDO) traded at $2.80, just below the crucial resistance near $2.85 before breaking towards a new all-time high.