Ryan Zurrer: Polychain – A Crypto Hedge Fund Success Story

Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

We are joined by Ryan Zurrer, Principal and Venture partner, at Polychain capital. Polychain capital is a breakout crypto hedge fund with over $100 million in assets under management, and large investments in major crypto projects such as Dfinity, Polkadot, Filecoin and Vest. Ryan was the first person to join Olaf Carlson Wee in managing this fund. He built multiple companies in the wind energy industry prior to making a switch to the cryptocurrencies.

In this episode, we go behind the scenes of the Polychain success story. We get details on what crypto hedge funds are, how Polychain got started, reasons for its breakout success, its approach to blockchain investments and the current challenges of running a crypto hedge fund. Ryan also walks us through Polychain’s interest areas – Layer 1 blockchain protocols such as Filecoin, Dfinity and Polkadot; and financial derivative protocols. If you want to understand how some of the leading minds allocate capital at a large scale in the cryptocurrency industry, check out the episode.

Topics covered in this episode:

• What is a crypto hedge fund?
• Differences between a crypto hedge fund and a venture capital firm
• The Polychain success story and how it played out
• Polychain’s approach to cryptocurrency investments and entrepreneurs
• Polychain’s major flagship investments – Filecoin, Dfinity and Polkadot
• Polychain’s perspective in the “frozen Parity ether” debate

Episode links:

• Polychain capital website
• Fortune article on Polychain
• Previous Epicenter episode on Polychain with Olaf Carlson Wee
• Polychain's perspective on the “Parity frozen ether” controversy

This episode is hosted by Meher Roy and Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/249