Source: Fortune
Summary
Venture capitalist Jesse Walden has raised $222 million for Variant 4, a new fund focused on investing in companies that promote autonomy and decentralization. Walden believes that the concept of Web 3, which promised a new era of the internet, never materialized, but its underlying principles have given rise to successes in finance. He sees Variant’s thesis of autonomy as a broader concept that includes permissionless finance, crypto, and agentic applications. Walden is optimistic about the future of crypto and its potential to enable autonomy in the age of AI.
Our Reading
The numbers tell one story.
Jesse Walden’s Variant 4 fund has secured $222 million, despite his claim that crypto investing will disappear as a standalone category. Walden’s refined thesis of autonomy has expanded to include agentic applications, and he sees crypto expertise as valuable in the age of AI. He believes that crypto has often failed to live up to the hype due to misconceptions about its purpose. Variant’s investment portfolio includes DeFi platforms Uniswap and Morpho.
Walden’s optimism about the future of crypto is a signal.
Author: Evan Null
