19 Mar 2014 / New York Times – Several prominent investment firms are joining forces to buy stakes in one of the biggest Bitcoin operations in the world.
The publicly traded New York private equity and hedge fund firm Fortress Investment Group and two other investors are buying a stake in Pantera Bitcoin Partners, a San Francisco-based hedge fund operator that buys and sells virtual currencies.
The creation of the partnership represents a significant step in the push to move Bitcoin into the financial mainstream at a time when several well-publicized claims of theft have pointed to potential weaknesses in the digital currency economy.
Pantera Capital, the parent of Pantera Bitcoin, was founded in 2003 by Dan Morehead, a veteran of the hedge fund giant Tiger Management. For most of its existence, Pantera was a macro hedge fund. But since 2011, Mr. Morehead has grown increasingly fascinated with Bitcoin, he said in an interview on Tuesday. In recent months, he said, the firm’s staff of 16 has shifted its attention to work full time on investments in the virtual currency world.
“We’re very excited about the promise of Bitcoin and how it can transform the way we move money,” Mr. Morehead said. “The promise and possibilities here are very broad.”
When Pantera made its first regulatory filing in December, its Bitcoin fund was worth $147 million. That is significantly larger than the Bitcoin Investment Trust, a $55 million fund run by the New York firm SecondMarket that holds virtual currencies on behalf of investors…. Read more
