ChainLink Capital Targets $100M in Assets for 2 Crypto Funds

Crypto-focused venture capital fund ChainLink Capital Management has set a target to reach $100 million in assets under management each for its Luna and Ama funds this year, general partner Andrew Hoppin told CoinDesk in an interview. The funds had about $30 million and $13 million under management, respectively, at the end of last year.

ChainLink Capital isn’t related to the Chainlink token and protocol, and the Luna fund isn’t tied to LUNA, the native token of the Terra blockchain.

Founded in 2018, ChainLink embraces a “fund of funds” strategy to provide diversification and exposure to crypto experts while mitigating the risks that are “still unfortunately quite abundant these days in crypto,” said Hoppin, a former chief technology officer for the New York State Senate.

The Luna Fund is backed by large family and multifamily offices. It includes hedge funds that manage tokens, including bitcoin and ethereum, and funds that generate returns from liquid token holdings, which include lending and staking. Holdings include Coinbase and non-fungible token marketplace Rarible.

The newer Ama Fund, which was launched in the fall of 2020, includes hedge funds taking a more risk-neutral approach to digital asset investments. The fund has noted blockchain analyst Willy Woo as its research head.

ChainLink also has a “liquid venture strategy," the firm’s term for “being really good at venture capital-type investing and also liquid portfolio investing,” Hoppin said.

“We think that’s the best way to do venture investing in crypto because, unlike traditional technology company equity investing, the time frames to liquidity are so fast in crypto,” Hoppin continued.

Asked about investment trends for 2022, Hoppin said this could prove to be the year of the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).

“I’m really excited about [DAOs], not just in terms of investment opportunities, but in terms of a way to reorganize the way that our world works,” he said.

Read more: Will DAOs Replace Crypto Venture Capital?