4 VCs and 1 funds investing in Protocol Design
Partner, Investing & Research
Paradigm
Check: Paradigm backs companies from first check through public markets, but neither the firm nor Ricardo publishes his personal check range or decision authority. Portfolio round totals and a historical firm-wide range are not treated as personal allocation evidence.
Ricardo uses large-scale onchain data to distinguish real crypto adoption from activity manufactured by incentives or sybils. He focuses on new ecosystems, user acquisition and retention, token distribution, applied zero knowledge, and the infrastructure required to analyze petabyte-scale blockchain data. His core investment question is not simply whether usage grew, but who the real users are, what caused their behavior, and whether engagement persists after rewards decline.
General Partner & Head of Research
Paradigm
DeFi mechanism design, AMM theory, MEV research. Novel financial primitives and their mathematical foundations.
Co-Chief Investment Officer
Pantera Capital
DeFi, prediction markets, protocol design. Creator of Augur.
Partner / Head of Delphi Labs
Delphi Ventures
Investing in DeFi and crypto infrastructure at Delphi Ventures. Focuses on technical evaluation of protocols and smart contract systems.