Pantera Capital, one of the largest cryptocurrency hedge funds in the space, is rumored to be down 72.7% on their investments this year.
In a widely circulated screenshot found on Twitter, Pantera’s ROI figures can be seen.
The original tweet:
Pantera releases some painful performance numbers for their new #crypto fund. #bitcoin #ethereum pic.twitter.com/Do6D8sxHla
— Collin Crypto (@CollinCrypto) October 5, 2018
The numbers are as follows:
August: -22.3%
YTD (year-to-date): -72.7%
LTD (life-to-date): -40.8% (The Fund’s first full month was December 2017)
CAGR (compound annual growth rate): -50.3%
Considering the screenshot says “August Performance,” this is most likely a report came out on September 1st.
In June, CryptoGlobe reported that Pantera was down 51% YTD. Since then, it seems the funds performance has not improved.
Is It True?
It’s possible that this screenshot is fake news. However, at this moment, there is no confirmation that this is real or fake.
Most likely, these figures came from a memo to investors. Hedge funds routinely publish their numbers internally, so that investors can see how their investments are doing.These are usually not available to the public, which explains why no public source can be found for these numbers.
CryptoGlobe reached out to Pantera for comment, but there was no response.
Performance Versus Bitcoin
Although it seems Pantera has not produced much ROI for their customers, the entire market has been in a downtrend this year.
To see how the hedge fund really performed, here’s how Bitcoin (BTC) performed over a similar time frame.
Price Of Bitcoin
January 1, 2018: $13,445
August 1, 2018: $7,611
September 1, 2018: $7,203
Bitcoin ROI
August: -5.36%
YTD (January 1 to September 1): -46.4%
Pantera ROI
August: -22.3%
YTD (year-to-date): -72.7%
Looking at the numbers above, holding bitcoin would’ve been more profitable than investing in Pantera Capital (if the screenshot is true).
Why did this happen?
Although it’s impossible to see exactly how much Pantera invested in what, there is a list of their investments published on their website.
They’re invested in Bitcoin, but also altcoins: 0x, Augur, Civic, Ethereum, Enigma, Filecoin, Funfair, Gems, Icon, Kin, Ripple, and many more. In addition, they’re invested in exchanges such as Shapeshift, Abra, Circle, and Xapo, and infrastructure projects like Earn and BitPesa.
Over the past year, altcoins have performed worse than Bitcoin, so Pantera’s diversified portfolio might have led to their downfall.
