According to a report filed to the SEC, San-Fransisco based Pantera Capital has registered a new hedge funds called Pantera Bitcoin Advisors LLC. The new Bitcoin hedge fund already had a total value, at the filing date of December 4th, of $147m, with 26 investors contributing at least $250,000 each.
NYSE Listed equity management firm Fortress Investment Group, is reported by CNN Fortune to be behind the fund, as Pantera's listed investors are some of Fortress executives. Fortress Investment Group LLC is a well-known firm on Wall Street, with approximately $58.0 billion of assets under management as of September, 2013, making this the most important investment by a major financial player in Bitcoin's history.
In October 2013, the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of macro funds at Fortress, Michael Novogratz, made the news when he was the first top hedge fund manager on Wall Street to recommend investing in the Digital Currency. Mr. Novogratz said he can see Bitcoin growing as a payment system, especially in the developing world. At the time, Novogratz said he has only invested his own private savings in the virtual currency and not yet on behalf of Fortress. “Put a little money in Bitcoin, come back in a few years and it’s going to be worth a lot" he said.
Fortress is additionally rumored to be launching a fund to focus on new Bitcoin start-ups.
