Crypto Gloss

Multicoin Capital

Multicoin Capital is an Austin-based crypto investment firm founded in 2017 by Kyle Samani and Tushar Jain. The firm operates as both a venture fund (early-stage equity and token investments) and a liquid hedge fund (public token trading), a hybrid structure that allows it to both invest in protocols pre-launch and actively trade the resulting tokens. Multicoin is most associated with its early, vocal, and ultimately highly profitable thesis on Solana — an investment made in 2018 when Solana had not yet launched its mainnet. The firm is known for its research-first approach and a willingness to publish controversial takes.

Founders

Kyle Samani is a managing partner. He co-founded the firm without a traditional finance background — prior to Multicoin, he founded Pristine (a healthcare software company) which was acquired in 2016. Samani became interested in Bitcoin and Ethereum in 2016–2017 and began writing extensively about crypto on the Multicoin blog before the fund was formally established.

Tushar Jain is a managing partner. Like Samani, Jain came from a technology and entrepreneurship background rather than traditional finance. The two co-founders’ non-finance origins shaped Multicoin’s culture: the firm takes strong directional views, writes extensively, and argues publicly for its theses even when they are contrarian.

The Solana Thesis

Multicoin’s most significant investment was its early bet on Solana in 2018, before the network’s mainnet had launched. Samani wrote extensively about what he called the “Monorepo Thesis” — the idea that in a world where blockchains would serve as settlement layers for internet-scale applications, raw throughput would be the defining competitive variable, and that Solana’s architectural approach (Proof of History, parallel transaction processing, a single global state) was optimally designed to win.

At the time, this was a minority view. Most serious investors were betting on Ethereum’s scalability roadmap, on alternative L1s like Cosmos and Polkadot, or on Ethereum sidechains (like Polygon). Multicoin’s conviction that a blockchain architecture built for speed over composability could outperform was widely criticized.

From 2020 through the 2021 peak, SOL rose from under $1 to approximately $260, and Multicoin’s fund reportedly generated exceptional returns. The fund became closely associated with Solana — building deep ties to the Solana ecosystem, investing in Solana-native projects like Serum, Mango Markets, Helium, Hivemapper, Render Network, Pyth Network, and many others.

FTX Exposure and 2022 Losses

Multicoin’s Solana thesis intersected badly with the collapse of FTX in November 2022. The firm had significant assets held on FTX — roughly $200M reportedly locked on the exchange when withdrawals halted. Beyond the direct FTX exposure, Multicoin’s fund was highly correlated with the Solana ecosystem, which was hit particularly hard by FTX’s collapse (due to Alameda Research’s deep involvement in Solana and FTX’s role as a Solana ecosystem anchor).

SOL fell from roughly $38 at the start of November 2022 to under $10 in the following months. Multicoin’s hedge fund reportedly declined approximately 90%+ during 2022. The firm communicated this to limited partners but remained operating.

The FTX collapse was a painful episode for Multicoin given the firm’s close relationship with the Solana ecosystem and Sam Bankman-Fried. The firm had previously featured SBF positively in its public communications and participated in FTX ecosystem events.

Recovery and 2024–2025

Solana’s recovery from the FTX collapse — SOL regained ATH territory in 2024 and became a top-three blockchain by multiple metrics — significantly rehabilitated Multicoin’s position. The firm’s Solana thesis was ultimately vindicated in most of the key metrics Samani had originally cited: transaction throughput, consumer application usage, and DeFi trading volume.

By the 2024 cycle, Multicoin had added new portfolio company positions in AI and DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks), a thesis area where Helium (decentralized wireless) and Hivemapper (decentralized mapping) had been early positions.

Research and Communication Style

Multicoin publishes extensively on its blog and Samani is highly active on X (Twitter). The firm’s writing style is direct, often confrontational with prevailing consensus, and willing to name wrong-sided takes. This communication style earns both a dedicated following among traders who value directional conviction and criticism from those who view it as market manipulation via public theses.

Notable published theses:

  • “Crypto Mega Theses” — laying out the firm’s multi-year investment framework
  • The Solana/monorepo thesis posts (2018–2019)
  • DePIN investment framework

Social Media Sentiment

Multicoin is one of the most divisive firms in crypto discourse. Supporters view Kyle Samani and Tushar Jain as genuine original thinkers who correctly spotted the Solana opportunity years in advance when smarter-seeming people dismissed it. Critics point to the FTX exposure and the fund’s tight ecosystem relationships as evidence of the risks of conviction-based macro theses. FTX victims have been particularly critical of the firm’s pre-collapse proximity to SBF. The firm’s recovery alongside Solana’s resurgence has muted some of the sharpest criticism.

Last updated: 2026-04

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