Share this article
Visa, PayPal Join Crypto VC Blockchain Capital’s New $300M Fund
PayPal said it's the first time the company has invested as an LP in a fund focused on blockchain and digital assets.
By Danny Nelson
Updated May 9, 2023, 3:20 a.m. Published Jun 22, 2021, 1:00 p.m.
PayPal and Visa are chasing bets across the crypto industry as partners in Blockchain Capital’s fifth venture fund, a $300 million war chest announced Tuesday.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
The increasingly crypto-savvy companies are relative newcomers to crypto VC. While both have invested directly in a handful of crypto startups, joining as limited partners (LPs) means an outside manager will place broader equity investments on their behalf. PayPal confirmed to CoinDesk this is its first such arrangement with a crypto VC firm.
Blockchain Capital is one of older and larger crypto-native venture capital firms with over $1.5 billion under management, General Partner Spencer Bogart told CoinDesk. He said the firm’s fifth fund also received backing from pension funds and university endowments but declined to name additional LPs.
By Bogart’s telling, the payments giants are hungry for bolder investment opportunities across an industry they believe in but need the help of a “field guide” to fully navigate.
“There's nothing better than walking an early-stage startup into the likes of a Visa or PayPal and helping them secure a commercial agreement, and helping make sure that on Visa and PayPal’s side, they have solutions for the products that they want to launch,” he said.
Read more: Securitize Raises $48M in Funding Round Led by Morgan Stanley, Blockchain Capital
Bogart said the LP route gives these firms indirect equity upside while also getting an early read on startups for partnership deals.
PayPal also sees it that way. “Investing in Blockchain Capital’s new fund allows us to engage with and learn from entrepreneurs driving the future of digital currencies and blockchain,” PayPal crypto lead Jose Fernandez da Ponte said in a statement.
Blockchain Capital is looking to scatter this $300 million in early-stage gems – “not exactly the Coinbases and the Krakens of the world just yet,” said Bogart. It began deploying capital over 12 months ago but most of its new fund is waiting. (Coinbase, Kraken, Anchorage and OpenSea are previous Blockchain Capital investments.)
The new fund is maintaining a focus on crypto infrastructure plays like startups building to support decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) while avoiding the assets themselves, Bogart said.
Blockchain Capital's fourth fund, announced in March 2018, clocked in at $150 million.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Foundation behind restaking protocol EigenLayer plans bigger rewards for active users
An Incentives Committee would direct programmatic token emissions, focusing allocations on participants that secure AVSs and contribute to the EigenCloud ecosystem.
What to know:
- The Eigen Foundation has unveiled a governance proposal aimed at ushering in new incentives for its EIGEN token, shifting the protocol’s reward strategy to prioritize productive network activity and fee generation.
- Under the plan, a newly formed Incentives Committee would manage token emissions, prioritizing participants who secure Actively Validated Services and expand the EigenCloud ecosystem.
- The proposal includes a fee model that channels revenue from AVS rewards and EigenCloud services back to EIGEN holders, potentially creating deflationary pressure as the ecosystem grows.
Top Stories
