Best VCs for Trading

38 venture capitalists actively investing in Trading.

Active VCs

Funds

Deals

Investment Partner

a16z crypto

Jay backs consumer and application-layer crypto products that make onchain systems useful to mainstream users. His recent work centers on financial applications as crypto's adoption wedge: wallets bec

No verified personal check-size range is publicly attributed to Jay. His disclosed work includes a16z crypto leading Kairos's $2.5M seed round; that round size is company financing, not Jay's individual allocation authority.

SeedSeries AEarly Stage

#2Lucas Raymond (LTR)

Venture Associate

Kosmos Ventures

Lucas looks for early, non-consensus crypto opportunities through an active-user and market-structure lens. He believes decentralized markets can democratize finance and that money increasingly follow

No Lucas-specific check range is public. A current OpenVC search profile lists Kosmos at $100K–$1M, while Kosmos's own live material confirms Seed/Pre-Seed as its co-building focus but publishes no check size. Treat $100K–$1M as third-party firm guidance only; confirm allocation, instrument, ownership and decision-maker directly with Lucas and the team.

Pre-seedSeedEarly Stage

#3Jeff Ren

Investment Partner

OKX Ventures

Leading blockchain investments at OKX Ventures, the investment arm of one of the world's largest crypto exchanges. Focuses on projects that expand the OKX ecosystem.

SeedSeries ASeries B

#4Andrew Kang

Co-founder

Mechanism Capital

Thesis-driven investing at the intersection of DeFi and trading infrastructure. Mechanism Capital focuses on DeFi protocols, derivatives, and novel financial primitives. Known for deep technical analy

SeedSeries A

#5Cristian Gil

Head of Investments

GSR Markets

Leading crypto market making and trading operations at GSR Markets, with a strategic investment arm backing infrastructure and DeFi projects.

SeedSeries ASeries B

#6Sterling Campbell

Former Investor, Blockchain Capital (off current roster)

Blockchain Capital

In his Blockchain Capital work, Sterling focused on the intersection of consumers and crypto. He saw gaming as a mass-onboarding path because persistent games, interoperable assets and player-owned ec

No reliable personal check range or current Blockchain Capital authority is public. Third-party ranges are stale and were excluded. Historical work included consumer-crypto diligence and portfolio support; founders must contact a currently listed Blockchain Capital investor for live check size and sponsorship.

Historical seed and venture investingConsumer-crypto diligencePortfolio support

#7Nihal Maunder

Managing Director

HongShan

Nihal's current HSG mandate is not yet public, so the defensible personal thesis comes from his prior first-person and attributed work: blockchain can extend open finance and coordination into payment

No current person-specific HSG check size is publicly disclosed. Historical Pantera work spans early-stage through growth, but those prior fund parameters should not be assumed to apply to his HSG role.

Early StageVentureGrowth

#8Michael Rinko

Associate

Colosseum

Michael's lens combines markets research with Colosseum's tournament-style venture funnel: use global hackathons and four-week build sprints to observe which founders ship, learn and attract users bef

Colosseum's published accelerator investment is $250K pre-seed for accepted teams; it is a program-level standard, not Michael's personal discretionary check. Current materials say hackathon winners are interviewed and considered, with accepted teams receiving capital, mentorship and network access. Earlier official content described 7% terms; founders must verify the current instrument, percentage and token/equity structure.

Pre-seedHackathon to acceleratorInitial product sprint

#9Jehan Chu

Founder & Managing Partner

Kenetic Capital

Jehan treats blockchain as the next internet and backs the data, infrastructure, enterprise, trading and financial systems that can anchor a natively digital economy. He underwrites the founders first

No reliable public standard ticket or Jehan-specific approval range was found. Kenetic invests its family-office capital in direct blockchain companies, tokens and other crypto funds, and its published site emphasizes Series A/B equity; historical and interview evidence also shows seed, token and incubation activity. Ask directly rather than inferring a check from round size.

SeedSeries ASeries B

#10Felipe Demartini

Associate

UTXO Management

Felipe specializes in Bitcoin-native assets and publicly listed Bitcoin treasury companies, combining fundamental research with short-, medium- and long-horizon trading. His work sits inside UTXO's vi

No Felipe-specific check size or investment authority is public. UTXO allocates across venture, liquid, public-market and structured-credit strategies; company founders and allocators should confirm the relevant vehicle and current sizing through the firm's contact channel.

Public MarketsLiquidVenture

#11Kanav Kariya

Former President

Jump Crypto

Jump Crypto was the crypto arm of Jump Trading, one of the world's largest quantitative trading firms. Focused on building infrastructure, particularly cross-chain bridges and DeFi protocols.

SeedSeries AStrategic

#12Joey Shin

Junior Partner

Pantera Capital

Joey treats blockchain as a permissionless, composable technology stack for programming value and human behavior—not merely a digital copy of traditional finance. He is looking for institutional DeFi

No person-specific check size is publicly disclosed. Pantera's published venture strategy typically spans Seed through Series B and aims to lead or co-lead; Joey's own mandate is DeFi and infrastructure rather than a stated ticket size.

SeedSeries AGrowth

#13Arthur Hayes

Angel Investor / Writer

BitMEX Ventures

Co-founded BitMEX, pioneered crypto perpetual futures. Now runs Maelstrom fund investing in DeFi and crypto infrastructure. Known for macro-driven crypto thesis and provocative market commentary.

SeedSeries AStrategic

#14Sanjay Shah

Investor

Electric Capital

Sanjay's stated remit is liquid crypto portfolio management across trading and DeFi strategies. His combination of consulting, company-building and graduate technical/business training suggests an ope

Not applicable as a disclosed personal venture check range. Electric's current biography says Sanjay focuses on liquid crypto portfolio management, trading and DeFi strategies. The firm's public $1M–$15M+ venture range should not be attributed to his liquid-market role.

Liquid AssetsPortfolio ManagementTrading Strategies

#15Arjun Balaji

General Partner

Paradigm

Crypto market structure, infrastructure, TradFi-DeFi intersection.

#16Yoann Turpin

Co-founder

Wintermute Ventures

Yoann brings high-frequency trading, hedge-fund and family-office experience to a proprietary-capital venture platform built around Wintermute's market infrastructure. The firm backs category-defining

Wintermute Ventures currently publishes flexible $500K–$5M+ global investments, primarily Seed and Series A, using proprietary capital and often leading or co-leading. This is a firm range—not Yoann's personal promise—and the firm also makes selective later-stage investments.

Pre-SeedSeedSeries A

#17Darius Rugys

Partner

Maven 11 Capital

Darius works within Maven 11's crypto-native, early-stage strategy. The firm backs technically fluent founders who challenge the status quo by redefining ownership through open, inclusive, permissionl

Maven 11 does not publish Darius's personal check range or decision authority. Third-party investor databases estimate ranges, but those figures are not treated as verified evidence. The current firm describes an early-stage venture strategy without attaching a check range to him.

Pre-SeedSeedSeries A

#18Darius Sit

Angel Investor & QCP Founder

Darius views crypto as a frontier market progressing toward institutional maturity rather than as a purely speculative trade. His macro, derivatives and quantitative background supports opportunities

No reliable personal angel range is published. QCP is an institutional digital-asset trading and asset-management group, not a conventional open venture fund, so founders should distinguish Darius's personal investment activity from QCP proprietary positions, partnerships and commercial services.

SeedSeries AGrowth

#19Spencer Applebaum

General Partner, Co-Head of Venture

Multicoin Capital

Solana ecosystem, DeFi, DePIN. High-performance blockchain applications.

SeedSeries AVenture

#20Jan-Dirk Lueders

Co-Founder

CMT Digital

Jan-Dirk views blockchain and distributed-ledger technology as a multi-decade shift that can make valuable information as easy to transfer as smartphones made ordinary information. His operating philo

$100K-$5M, with a reported $1.5M sweet spot, according to an external investor directory; confirm current sizing directly with CMT Digital.

SeedSeries AEarly Stage

#21Felix Ke

Head of Treasury

Inception Capital

Felix leads treasury for Inception Capital. His official biography highlights quantitative trading and early-stage venture experience, but the firm does not publish a current direct-investment mandate

Not applicable as a published personal mandate: Felix Ke's current role is Head of Treasury, and Inception does not disclose a firm check-size range on its website.

TreasuryEarly Stage

#22Tom Schmidt

General Partner

Dragonfly

Early-stage crypto investor at Dragonfly with deep DeFi expertise. Focuses on novel financial primitives and infrastructure that expands what's possible in decentralized finance.

SeedSeries A

#23Scott Casto

Co-Founder

CMT Digital

Casto brings a trading, derivatives, risk-management, and regulatory lens to CMT Digital's early-stage blockchain strategy. CMT's approach backs founders accelerating blockchain adoption, with particu

$100K-$5M; public directory sweet spot approximately $1.5M

SeedSeries A

#24Chris Ferraro

President & Chief Investment Officer

Galaxy Digital

Institutional-grade crypto investment across the full capital structure. Focuses on bridging traditional finance and digital assets.

SeedSeries ASeries B

#25Benjamin Simon

Co-founder

Mechanism Capital

Co-founded Mechanism Capital focusing on DeFi and trading infrastructure. Combines trading experience with venture investing.

SeedSeries A