Former BlackRock Managing Director Joins Crypto VC Heavyweight Pantera Capital

Pantera Capital, one of the oldest and most influential cryptocurrency VC firms, welcomes Todd Slattery as its new COO. Previously, he spent 22 years combined as BlackRock and Goldman Sachs' asset managers.

Pantera Capital appoints Todd Slattery as new COO

According to the official statement by Pantera Capital, a major Web3-focused VC firm active since 2013, it has appointed management veteran Todd Slattery as its new chief operations officer. In his new capacity, Slattery will be "advancing Pantera's mission of growing digital economy," the announcement says.

In 2011-2021, Slattery worked at BlackRock as managing director for the company's various units, including an Alternatives Platform and Global Institutional Clients.

In 2000-2010 he was the vice president and managing director at Goldman Sachs, a leading U.S. multinational investment bank and financial services behemoth.

Slattery is excited by his new mission and the accomplishments of Pantera Capital in the Web3 investing landscape:

The blockchain economy is real and will continue to grow due to the talent and capital that it attracts. The smart approach for long-term investors is to employ passive and active investment strategies to capitalize on the growth and innovation of this economy. I believe Pantera is well-positioned to lead as an active investor with the experience, network, and disciplined approach that Dan and our team have built since 2013.

Prior to joining Pantera Capital, Todd Slattery was a chief operating officer for CBC Group, curating the operating platform for Asia's largest healthcare-dedicated asset management firm.

BlackRock's Mitchnick sees challenges ahead for Ethereum Spot ETFs

BlackRock is among the most active institutional players in the sphere of cryptocurrency ETFs. It was among the pioneers of both Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs launched this year.

However, its Ethereum-based product failed to keep up with Bitcoin's in terms of AUM and trading activity. 

According to Fortune, Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock's head of digital assets, admitted this imbalance and suggested that it would stick around:

It’s very rare that you see an ETF get to a billion AUM in seven weeks, as ETHA did. In most cases, it takes multiple years to never for a new ETF to get to a billion (...) With ETH, I think the investment story and narrative is a bit less easy for a lot of investors to digest, so that’s a big part of why we’re so committed to the education journey that we’re on with a lot of our clients.

Mitchnick says that BlackRock will be focused on explaining the specifics of Ethereum (ETH) and Ether for the global economy to potential investors.