The cryptocurrency space in 2019 has continued to trend downward with bearish sentiment, coined “crypto winter.” Despite much enthusiasm when it comes to price, many institutions and investors have been hedging their bets that value will accrue and the industry and blockchain technology as a whole is here to stay.

JPMorgan announced release plans for its own “stablecoin”, pegged to $1. The influential investment bank is currently recruiting more blockchain positions than any other financial firm. Other consulting firms hiring for blockchain-related positions include Deloitte, Accenture, EY, and KPMG. Tech firms, such as IBM and Cisco, have also been increasing their blockchain staff. Facebook has been quietly building a team dedicated to blockchain, and like JPMorgan, it also plans to launch a stablecoin sometime this year. This year we have also seen Fidelity, one of the largest asset managers, go live with its Bitcoin custodial service. These are a few examples of the underlying fundamentals that have been driving the crypto ecosystem despite the bear market.

Previously, we've mapped out many of the investors involved in the ecosystem, but the crypto industry moves at a very rapid pace. Since that time, some of the landscape and trends have changed.

One noticeable trend is that many traditional VCs have gained some exposure to the industry by investing in a handful of blockchain-related investments.

Outside of bespoke investments, much of the industry tends to be incestuous in that it's common for many funds to share LPs, or even invest in one another. 2018 saw the parabolic-like growth of Crypto Funds launching, now we're seeing more overlap between those funds. Arrington XRP Capital’s LPs provided $30 million of new capital to acquire another fund based in Australia, Bytesize Capital. Ikigai Fund, a crypto-asset management firm, recently announced it had received a lead investment from Morgan Creek Digital.

Polychain Capital, one of the first and most prominent hedge funds dedicated to the crypto industry, shows traces of LPs overlapping. While not all LPs are public, some of those reported include Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, Founders Fund, Sequoia, Bain, and Bessemer. Another examples of this brings us to another crypto-asset hedge fund, Metastable, where Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Union Square Ventures, Founders Fund and Bessemer Venture Partners have all invested.

While it is very much unknown how this space will evolve, many investors still believe there is something here. As Nassim Taleb says, “Don’t tell me what you 'think,' show me your portfolio.” Judging by the portfolios and actions of many prominent VC Firms, many believe this industry is here to stay.

Traditional VCs

• Union Square Ventures is a venture capital firm based out of New York City (Polychain Capital, Dapper Labs, Protocol Labs, OB1)

• Andreessen Horowitz is a venture capital firm with $2.7 billion under management. (Notable Investments: Coinbase, Dapper Labs, DFINITY)

• Draper Associates is a seed stage venture fund investing in software and financial services (Notable investments: Bancor, BitPesa, Tezos)

• SV Angel is an angel based firm that invests in internet software companies (Notable investments: DFINITY, DIRT Protocol, Radar Relay)

• Lightspeed Venture Partners is a venture capital firm headquartered in San Francisco which provides capital to early-stage companies (Notable investments: Blockchain, LedgerX, Basis)

• Sequoia Capital is a VC firm in Menlo, California (Notable investments: Bitmain, MetaStable, Orchid Labs)

• Danhua Capital (Digital Horizon Capital) (Brave, Blockfolio, Chia)

• GGV Capital is a VC firm that invests in companies at multi-stages and manages $6.2 billion in capital (Notable investments: TrustToken, The Block)

• Social Starts is a Micro VC that invests in technology companies at seed and Series A stage (Notable investments: Basis, The Block, The Ocean)

• IDG Capital is an investment firm based out of Bejing that invests in early-stage tech companies

• Ceyuan Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm in Beijing that invests in companies involved with IT and emerging markets

• RRE Ventures is an early- to mid-stage venture capital firm that predominantly funds technology companies. Across 7 different funds it has raised $1.5 billion in total

• General Catalyst is a venture capital firm based out of Cambridge, Mass. that invests in early-stage companies that building enterprise technologies or global consumer brands

• Kindred Ventures is a venture capital firm based in San Fransisco that invests in startups at early stage. Some of their investments in the blockchain space include Coinbase, Messari, dy/dx, Radar, SET Protocol, and Scalar Capital

• First Round Capital is a venture capital firm based in the San Francisco bay area that provides seed-stage funding to technology companies. Its blockchain portfolio includes Abra, Rare Bits, Numerai, and Amino

• Google Ventures is the venture capital investment arm of Alphabet. Inc. that provides seed, venture, and growth-stage funding to technology companies. It's provided funding to numerous blockchain based startups, including Storj, LedgerX, Veem, Gyft, and Ripple

• Earlybird Venture Capital is a venture capital investor, based in Berlin, primarily focused on investing in European technology companies. Some of their blockchain-based investments include Shapeshift, a digital asset exchange and BigChainDB, an IP database

• Mosaic Ventures, headquartered in London, is a venture capital firm focused on providing Series A investments. Some of its blockchain-based investments include Blockstream, Blockchain, Centrifuge, and MultiChain

• Mandra Capital, based in Hong Kong, is a investment holding company that offers venture and private equity investments. It's made investments in a handful of a blockchain companies including OkCoin, Chronicled, and PINTEC

• Camp One Ventures is a venture capital fund based in San Fransisco that predominantly invests in early stage FinTech companies. Some of its blockchain investments include Ripple, Augmate, and Mobius

• PreAngel, based in Bejing, is an investment fund focused on early stage investments in internet startups. PreAngel’s involvement in the blockchain space includes Sensay, OkCoin, Origin Protocol, and LendChain

• Abstract Ventures is a venture investor out of San Fransisco that invests in startups across many different sectors. It's invested in numerous blockchain companies, including Blockfolio, Brave, Compound, Decent, dy/dx, Harbor, Polychain Capital, and Ripple

• Foundation Capital is a venture capital firm based in Palo Alto, California. Its blockchain investments include Origin Protocol, BlockCypher, and OpenSea

• AME Cloud Ventures, centered in Palo Alto, invests in seed- to later-stage tech companies building infrastructure or value for data. AME has provided funding to numerous blockchain based companies, including Blockstream, ShoCard, BlockCypher, and Ripple Labs

• Streamlined Ventures, based in Palo Alto, is a lead stage investor that provides venture capital to technology companies (AI/Data science, Quantum Computing, Blockchain, AR/VR, and Robotics). Some of the companies it's provided investment for dealing with blockchain technology are Noble.AI, GranData, and Lively

• Tusk Ventures, headquartered in the greater New York area, invests in technology companies with high-growth opportunities, which may be in strictly regulated industries. Its portfolio includes Coinbase and Radar

• Catagonia Capital, based in Berlin, provides venture capital to software and service companies. Some of its blockchain investments include Envision, AppCoins, and HydroMiner

• Compound is a NYC-based venture capital firm that invests in technology companies. It has numerous investments in the blockchain space, which include Gem, Blockstack, Mattereum, Orchid, Nucypher, Casa, CryptoKitties, Kadena, Computable, Compound, and Livepeer

• Arbor Ventures is a Hong Kong-based VC investing in early stage companies. Its top blockchain investments include Abra, Silot, and Global ID

• Hard Yaka, headquartered in Sausalito, California, offers fund investing to exchange space startups. Its portfolio includes companies involved in the blockchain ecosystem, which includes Coinbase, Ripple, & LedgerX

• Ribbit Capital, located in the San Fransisco bay area, is a venture firm that invests in early stage companies looking to disrupt the financial services industry. A couple of its blockchain bets include Coinbase and Xapo

• Khosla Ventures is a venture capital firm based out of Menlo Park, California that predominantly invests in early stage companies relating to technology. Khosla has provided funding for Blockstream and Chain

• Intel Capital is the venture capital arm of Intel Corporation, responsible for investments, which include blockchain related companies R3, Cognitive Scale, Starkware, and Filament

• Kima Ventures, headquartered in Paris, offers funding to two startups per week to promote growth. Its investments that deal with blockchain companies are Ledger and Paymium

• Lakestar, based in Zurich, Switzerland, is a venture capital firm that invests in technology companies. Lakestar has an investment in digital wallet provider Blockchain

• FundersClub is an online venture capital firm based out of San Fransisco. A couple of its blockchain investments include Coinbase and Shapeshift

• SBI Investment Co. is the investment arm of SBI focused on providing venture capital. Its SBI AI & Blockchain Fund is dedicated to investing in companies promoting the development of AI & blockchain technology. Some of its blockchain investments include Ripple, Othera, R3, Bitflyer, Coinplug, Quoine, and BRD

• Kleiner Perkins is a venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California. One blockchain company Kleiner has invested in is Audius, which is looking to decentralize the music industry.

• Qualcomm Ventures, based in San Diego, makes investments in technology companies. It had previously invested in blockchain startup 21.co, which later became Earn.com

• Lux Capital, NYC-based investor in early-stage science and technology companies. Blockstack, a blockchain based application working to decentralize the internet, is a part of its portfolio

• FinTech Collective is a venture capital fund based out of NYC focused on FinTech companies. Its portfolio includes blockchain based companies such as Axoni, UMA, and TradeBlock

• Amphora Capital is a Chinese venture firm and has invested in Wyre, a blockchain-based company

• Cherubic Ventures is a venture capital firm based out of Bejing that is active in both the U.S. and China. It has a fund specifically dedicated to digital currency and blockchain startups

• BlueYard Capital is a venture capital firm headquartered in Berlin. BlueYard has invested in Centrifuge, Decred, Filecoin, Protocol Labs, and AirTM

• BEENEXT is a venture capital firm based out of Singapore that invests predominately in India, Southeast Asia, Japan, and the U.S. The firm has invested in exchange platform Koinex and Stably, a stablecoin startup

• Innovation Endeavors, based in Palo Alto, California is focused on providing capital to early-stage tech companies. Innovation has provided funding to Coins and Blockstream

• Wavemaker Partners is an early-stage venture firm based in Singapore & Los Angeles.

• IQ Capital is a venture capital firm based out of Cambridge, UK. IQ has invested in blockchain based company Funderbeam

• ah! Ventures is an angel investment firm based out of India predominantly focused on the technology sector

• Variv Capital is a venture capital firm based in Mexico City focused on providing capital to early-stage technology businesses in Latin America. Variv has provided funding to the Bitcoin exchange Bitso

• Anthemis Group is a venture firm based in London that focuses on providing funding to companies that deal with financial services. Anthemis has invested in the blockchain company BigchainDB

• Hinge Capital based in San Diego, Hinge Capital offers venture capital to FinTech startups. Hinge has invested in Ripple and eToro

• SEB Venture Capital, based in Stockholm, Sweden, provides capital to FinTech companies. SEB has provided capital to Coinify and R3

• SEED Capital is the largest venture capital firm in Denmark that invests in technology companies. SEED has providing funding to blockchain based company Coinify

• Playfair Capital is a venture firm based out of London that focuses on funding technology companies. Playfair has provided funding for Crypto Facilities and Numerai

• Bain Capital, headquartered in Boston, is an investment firm that specializes in private equity and venture capital. Bain has provided funding to Digital Currency Group and Compound

• Cantos Ventures is the venture capital arm of Cantor Fitzgerald that focuses on investing in developing technology companies. Cantos is based in New York and has invested in the blockchain lending platform Dharma & Stronghold, a trading platform

Fund of Funds

• Vision Hill Advisors is a crypto-asset and blockchain focused fund of funds based in New York City

• Bitbull Capital based in San Fransisco, California is a cryptocurrency fund of hedgefunds

• CryptoLux Capital is a hedgefund of funds that focuses specifically on cryptoassets and the blockchain industry

• Block Asset Management based in Luxembourg, is a fund of funds that tracks the performance of specific blockchain/crypto funds

• Digital Ventures is the venture capital arm of SCB, the largest and oldest bank in Thailand

Crypto VCs

• Blockchain Capital, based in the San Fransisco bay area, Blockchain Capital was founded in 2013 and has been providing venture capital for the blockchain industry ever since (Notable investments: Abra, Bitfury, Bitwise)

• Digital Currency Group, headquarted in New York, was founded in 2015 and has been providing investment for Bitcoin and blockchain companies (Notable investments: BitGo, Blockstream, Coinbase)

• Fenbushi Capital, based in Shanghai, China, was one of the first blockchain funds (2015) to focus primarily on blockchain companies (Notable investments: Abra, Parity, Sia)

• #Hashed is a crypto-asset fund based out of South Korea and San Fransisco (Notable Investments: Terra, AirSwap, EOS)

• Node Capital, based in Bejing China, is a venture capital firm focused on providing investment to the blockchain industry (Notable investments: aelf, Genaro Network, ChainUP)

• a16z crypto, based in Menlo Park, California, is a venture fund investing in blockchain companies (Notable investments: DFINITY, MakerDAO, Oasis Labs)

• Placeholder is a venture capital firm that invests in blockchain related companies (Investment: Decred)

• Medici Ventures, based in Salt Lake City, is a subsidiary of Overstock.com and manages their investments in the blockchain space (Notable Investments: T Zero, Ripio, Factom)

• INBlockchain is an investment group in the Blockchain space (Notable investments: Eximchain, ONO Social, AdRealm)

• Digital Finance Group, based in San Fransisco, manages blockchain assets across many different funds (Notable investments: Bloq, Brave, RSK)

• Primitive Ventures is a long-term cryptoasset fund based in San Fransisco, California

• 1confirmation is a venture capital firm dedicated to the crypto ecosystem based in San Fransisco (Notable investments: Basis, dy/dx, Harbor)

• Blockchange, headquarted in New York City, is a venture capital firm investing in early-stage blockchain companies (Notable investments: The Block, Skuchain, Tokenize)

• Castle Island Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Cambridge, Mass., focused exclusively on public blockchains (Notable investments: Zenledger, Casa, Dust Identity)

• Liberty City Ventures, based in New York City, is a Micro VC, that invests in technology startups

• Zhen Fund, based in Bejing, is a venture capital fund

• Limitless Crypto Investments, based in Houston, offers exposure to blockchain related companies and crypto-assets

• Tally Capital, headquartered in Chicago, provides venture capital to companies in the blockchain industry

• Libertus Capital, a venture capital firm, invests in protocols and blockchain companies

• BnkToTheFuture is a online platform based in Tokyo that provides funding to blockchain and FinTech companies

• Sora Ventures, based in Hong Kong, is a crypto-backed venture capital firm focused on making investments in digital assets and blockchain related companies

Asset Management

• Bitwise, based out of San Fransisco, offers asset management to investors in the cryptocurrency space. Bitwise created the first crypto index fund in 2017

• Grayscale, headquartered in the greater NYC area, is an investor in the blockchain industry that offers exposure to the asset class

• Arca, based out of Los Angeles, is an institutional asset management firm for crypto and blockchain investing

• BitSpread, with offices in London, Singapore, and New York, is a firm that provides asset management for the blockchain space

• FBG Capital is a digital asset management firm based out of Bejing,

• Jafco, based in Tokyo, is a multi-billion dollar asset manager. Some of its investments in the blockchain space include Nayuta, Tech Bureau, and COMSA

Companies

• Coinbase Ventures, based in the San Francisco bay area, is the investment arm of Coinbase and invests in early stage blockchain companies (Notable investments: Reserve, The Block, TruStory)

• Bitmain Technologies (Notable investments: Block.one, OB1, Circle)

• Binance Labs based in Malta, is the incubator for Binance and invests in early stage teams/companies (Notable investments: Oasis Labs, Terra, Republic)

• Huobi Labs, based in Singapore, is a subsidiary of Huobi and a fund that acts as an incubator for blockchain companies (Notable investments: IOST, DATA, CoinMeet)

• Xpring is a Ripple initiative based in San Francisco that focuses on building infrastructure

• EOS VC provides venture capital to help grow the ecosystem of the EOS blockchain (Notable investments: Everipedia, High Fidelity)

Hedge Funds

• Pantera Capital, based in Menlo Park, Calif., is an investment firm that focuses on blockchain technology and crypto-assets

• Scalar Capital is a hedgefund based in San Fransisco that specializes in crypto-assets

• Polychain Capital is a Crypto-Hedge Fund based in the San Fransisco Bay Area

• Amentum is hybrid crypto-asset investment firm investing in blockchain technology. Some of its current investments include Namebase, Handshake, Mattereum, Cent Network, and Token Soft

• Alphabit Fund is a digital currency fund (Notable investments: Archax, Cova Covalent.AI, Cred, Ipowwow!, Storecoin, Sunexchange, Tap, Skycoin, Metal, Nucleus.Vision, Aelf, DATA, Video Coin, Republic Protocol, and Crowd Machine)

• MetaStable Capital is a crypto-asset hedge fund based out of San Fransisco that invests directly into cryptocurrencies

• Paradigm is a crypto fund that has the backing of of Pantera Capital and Yale University (Notable investment: Tagomi)

• CoinFund is a crypto-asset investment and research firm based out of Brooklyn, New York.

• Multicoin Capital is a crypto-fund based in Houston that invests in blockchain technology

• Blocktower Capital is a cryptocurrency investment firm based in the greater New York City area

• Tetras Capital is a New York City-based crypto hedge fund that invests in blockchain technology

• Ikigai Asset Management is a long/short crypto-asset hedge fund based in Marina Del Ray, Calif.

• Galaxy Digital is a crypto merchant bank based in New York, Cayman Islands, New Jersey, Tokyo, and Hong Kong

• 8 Decimal Capital, based in San Fransisco, is a multi-investment firm focused on blockchain technology

• General Crypto is a long-only cryptoasset hedge fund based in Palm Harbor, Fla.

• Morgan Creek Digital is a hedge fund based in Chapel Hill, N.C. backed by Morgan Creek Capital (Notable investment: Ikigai Asset Management)

Accelerators/Incubators

• Coinsilium, based out of London, is focused on the acceleration of blockchain technology (Notable investments: ICON, Medicalchain, Fantom)

• 500 startups is a venture capital firm based in Mountain View, Calif. The firm helps accelerate technology companies over numerous funds (Notable investments: Monetizr, Zeuss, Skyllz)

• Boost VC, based in San Mateo, Calif., provides capital to blockchain and VR companies (Notable investments: The Block, Coinbase, Aragon)

• ConsenSys, based in Brooklyn, New York, provides capital to companies and protocols building on the Ethereum network (Notable investments: Grid+, MetaMask, Gnosis)

• Science Blockchain, based in Los Angeles, is an incubator for blockchain technology (Notable investments: 8base, Springrole, Spl.yt)

• Techstars is an accelerator based in Boulder, Colo. (Notable investments: Hyperledger, Wala)