Secrets Of A Successful Crypto Trader
Sitting side-by-side in a trendy Manhattan cafe where a glass of cold-pressed pineapple-and-carrot juice costs $9, the 29-year-old co-founders of cryptocurrency investment firm Multicoin Capital are ticking off the digital coins they’re shorting. They stand to make millions if the virtual coins tank in value. “Two years from now, zcash is worth zero,” says Kyle Samani of the three-year-old privacy-focused cryptocurrency. Currently, zcash trades for $66.
Research suggests that few of zcash’s users are taking advantage of its core privacy features. Even worse, other cryptocurrency platforms such as Ethereum are copying zcash’s privacy technology. A zcash spokesperson counters, “If you want a private medium of exchange, there is nothing else like it.”
Samani’s cofounder, Tushar Jain, is eager to finger another popular cryptocurrency the duo thinks is worthless. “We’ve been publicly short XRP,” he says, referring to the coin used by San Francisco company Ripple to speed up interbank transactions.
From offices overlooking Austin, Texas’ Lady Bird Lake, they manage a $100 million crypto hedge fund backed by venture capitalists including Marc Andreessen and Fred Wilson’s Union Square Ventures. Multicoin concentrates its bets—both long and short—in 11 publicly traded cryptocurrencies. It also owns stakes in 20 private crypto startups.
In a market where disclosures are optional and hype and momentum play an outsize role in pricing, the pair uses a combination of data analysis and crowdsourced research to inform trades. Above all, Samani and Jain have thrived because they question every tidbit of information they receive. “In the crypto community, these things are religious in some ways. They keep telling you, ‘Believe, believe, believe,’ forever,” Samani says. “We never take it for granted that what’s being said is accurate.” This skeptical approach has been a big winner. According to those familiar with Multicoin’s results, its fund has returned 143% before fees over the last two years.
