Pantera Secures Two-Third of Its $175 Million Funding Target

Pantera Capital, a blockchain investment fund operating from the New York City, has announced that it has raised two-thirds of the  target it has set from venture capitals.
In the latest monthly public letter, the firm stated: “We raised two-thirds of the $175 million target in the first close, and plan to hold a final closing in Q1 of 2019.”
The firm also disclosed the name of its three new investment deals – Bakkt, Synthetic Minds, Blockfolio – out of six.
The SEC Non-Compliance
However, the firm recently attracted the limelight as in the same letter it has disclosed that around 25 percent of its fund’s capital was invested in projects that could be non-compliant with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s () policies.
This came after the SEC’s November 16 update in which it mentioned that it has filed charges against two United States-based firms – CarrierEQ Inc. (Airfox) and Paragon Coin Inc. – which issued tokens in 2017.
The SEC, in its announcement, stated: “According to the SEC’s orders, both CarrierEQ Inc. (Airfox) and Paragon Coin Inc. conducted ICOs in 2017 after the Commission warned that can be securities offerings in its DAO Report of Investigation.”
According to reports, Boston-based Airfox has raised $15 million, and Paragon, which plans to add blockchain technology to the cannabis industry, has secured around $12 million in the token sale.
The SEC further confirmed that both the firms have agreed to registered the tokens as securities and will initiate a refunds to the harmed investors.
Though Pantera Capital has raised concerns about a quarter of its investments, it assured that a third of them are still functional. “Of these projects, about a third (approximately 10% of the portfolio) is live and functional and, while they could technically continue without further development, ending development would hinder their progress,” Panera’s letter stated.
The firm, however, showed a little optimism citing Ethereum’s example which is similar to most of the projects.
“Fortunately, approximately 75% of the fund was invested in with what we believe to be compliant exempt offerings, using exemptions like Regulation D or Regulation S, and with at least one-year lockups so as to not violate securities law issues,” Pantera noted.