"When Rob Hadick signed the paperwork to join Dragonfly Capital in April 2022, he rented a house in the Hamptons. A contract with his former employer, the hedge fund GoldenTree, obliged him to refrain from working for six months, so Hadick prepared to lean into forced leisure time in the country. His plans for a relaxed stay soon came undone."
"Shortly after his arrival, the crypto market went into a freefall following the implosion of a notorious stablecoin project called Terra Luna. Hadick remembers scrolling through Twitter as the contagion spread. His wife called to ask if he was relaxing. "I don't think you understand what's happening to our net worth," he responded. "I am drinking whiskey in a dark room at 2 p.m. on a Tuesday.""
"That fund, Dragonfly's third, ended up catapulting the firm into the upper echelon of the crypto venture world, competing with the likes of Andreessen Horowitz and Paradigm thanks to its prescient bets on now massive startups including Polymarket, Rain, and Ethena. Now, as crypto enters yet another winter, with token prices plummeting and excitement washed out by AI hype, Dragonfly is announcing its fourth fund, a $650 million vehicle."
Rob Hadick joined Dragonfly Capital in April 2022 and rented a Hamptons house while bound by a six-month noncompete with GoldenTree. The Terra Luna collapse triggered rapid market contagion that upended plans and prompted intense personal anxiety. Hadick returned to Dragonfly in November amid the FTX collapse but remained committed because the firm retained substantial capital to deploy. Dragonfly's third fund made prescient bets on startups such as Polymarket, Rain, and Ethena and elevated the firm among top crypto venture players. The firm now announces a $650 million fourth fund amid a crypto winter, regulatory scares, leadership changes, and a strategic pivot away from China.
Read at Fortune
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]