New York: Bitcoin had a pretty good April. Pantera Capital had an even better one.
The hedge fund’s Digital Asset Fund, which was launched in November and includes a number of different virtual currencies, surged 46 per cent last month, compared with a 31 per cent gain registered by the biggest digital coin, Pantera said in an investor letter, citing “dynamic trading” for the strong performance.
“As we improve our order execution our slippage and market impact will decrease and so will our time to put new positions on, which should substantially improve performance even further,” the fund founded by Dan Morehead said in the letter.
The spring rebound follows a rough winter, when the Menlo Park, California-based firm’s Digital Asset Fund posted three consecutive months of losses as Bitcoin and other digital currencies pared astronomical gains from late last year.
“I believe that a large fraction of the downward pressure in the first quarter was unintended tax selling. People who were surprised when their accountant told them how much they owed in taxes,” the letter said. “They then had to sell crypto to pay the bill.”
The $1 billion (Dh3.67 billion) crypto hedge fund has about 10 per cent of its investments in Bitcoin, Morehead told Bloomberg in an April 26 interview.
Pantera also announced Wednesday that it has hired Ryan Davis, chief financial officer of Echelon Asset Management, as its new CFO. Morehead is chief executive.
