Tim Whybourne
31 October 2025
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In the world of macro investing, few voices carry as much weight as Dan Tapiero.
From trading alongside Julian Robertson and Stan Druckenmiller to leading one of the world’s largest digital asset funds, Dan Tapiero has lived through nearly every evolution in global investing.
In this episode of The Exchange, Tim Whybourne speaks with the 50T Funds Founder, CEO, CIO, and Managing Partner about how blockchain is reshaping finance, why institutional adoption is accelerating, and what investors risk by staying on the sidelines.
A Career Built on Macro Vision
Dan’s career began in the high-pressure world of global macro hedge funds. A path that took him from Tiger Management to SAC Capital and Duquesne. After 25 years managing portfolios across bonds, currencies, and commodities, he stepped back in 2012 only to re-emerge a few years later with a new focus.
“It was through the gold business that I learned about Bitcoin,” Dan recalls. “In 2013 we integrated our gold platform with BitReserve. It was the first place in the world, I think, where you could buy or sell gold and Bitcoin in the same transaction.”
At the time, he admits, he didn’t fully grasp the significance. It wasn’t until 2018–19, after reading Inventing Bitcoin by Jan Pritzker and The Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean Ammous, that he saw the bigger picture.
“What I finally understood was that Bitcoin was an invention. It’s the digitisation of money and value. They are very similar to how the internet was the digitisation of information and ideas.”
- Dan Tapiero
From 10T to 50T: Building the Bridge Between Worlds
After personally investing in Bitcoin and Ethereum during the 2018–19 market drawdown, Tapiero began to see the potential for a new institutional asset class.
He founded 10T Holdings, later expanded into 50T Funds, to invest in growth-stage digital asset companies — the “infrastructure builders” of the blockchain economy.
“I wanted to invest in the more developed businesses. Not early-stage ventures,” Dan explained. “We’re the largest and only growth equity fund in the world exclusively focused on blockchain, digital assets, Web3… whatever you want to call it. We’re not invested in cryptocurrency; we’re invested in the companies that make the system work.”
Today, 50T manages more than US$2 billion, with holdings in Circle, eToro, Gemini, Figure, and others that are defining what institutional digital finance looks like.
Tim Whybourne: ‘Institutions Here Are Still Behind’
During the conversation, Tim Whybourne noted that many Australian institutions remain hesitant.
“Institutions here are very backwards in their adoption of crypto and their willingness to take it seriously. Everyone’s waiting for legislation to come in before they do anything.”
- Tim Whybourne
Dan agreed that regulation has been a barrier, but also believes the tide is turning fast.
“We’re entering what I’d call the Americanisation of crypto,” Dan said. “Up until recently, the US was way behind. Now, with new bipartisan acts and regulatory clarity, the US is so far ahead that others, especially the Anglo countries like Australia, the UK, and Canada, will just end up adopting [the American] framework.”
Getting ‘Off Zero’: Why Every Portfolio Needs Exposure
Tapiero argues that having zero exposure to digital assets is becoming an active risk.
“There’s this mantra in the space: get off zero,” Dan told Tim. “To have zero exposure to this space is probably dangerous.”
He shared the story of how, as Chair of a major U.S. school endowment, he convinced trustees to allocate just 1% of their portfolio to Bitcoin and Ethereum in 2019.
That modest allocation (roughly US$5 million) is now worth around US$70 million.
Dan shared that the “original $5 million has put us in the top decile of all endowments and foundations on five- and ten-year performance. If you’re a larger investor, or nervous about the space, that’s okay. But you probably need at least 5% exposure today.”
Tim agreed:
“I actually wrote a piece for our clients on why we’re still early. I’m much more comfortable investing in this space now than I was ten years ago, even though I would’ve made a thousand times more back then.”
- Tim Whybourne
Read Tim’s article, The Million Dollar Trade I Missed and Why it is Not Too Late.
From Speculation to Infrastructure
Tapiero is quick to differentiate 50T’s strategy from short-term crypto speculation.
His focus is on established companies with real revenue and clear paths to profitability.
“We’re buying companies making fifty to a hundred million in revenue. We’re very careful about where we enter. We don’t tend to pay more than five to ten times revenue. And we’re looking to make a five to eight times return for our investors over the ten-year life” Dan shares.
That discipline has paid off: 50T’s funds are top decile globally for private equity performance, with several holdings already public or soon to be.
Dan notes that “there are no PE funds right now returning that kind of capital. And it’s because the public markets are clamouring for developed, mature blockchain businesses, but in the private space, we have literally no competition.”
Digital Adoption and the Macro Reality
One of the strongest signals that the opportunity remains early, Tapiero says, is adoption data.
“Today, nine percent of the world has digital wallets or cryptocurrency accounts,” he explains. “That’s equivalent to where internet adoption was in 2001. Ten years later it was thirty percent. If that correlation continues, in ten years 30% of the world will have digital wallets. And we’re investing in the Amazons and eBays of that time.”
Dan also connects this trend to long-term macro forces.
“What’s happening is a quiet erosion of purchasing power in the old world versus the digital world. Even the NASDAQ is down 99% against Bitcoin over the last ten years. The financial world is being digitised and those who stay fully in analogue assets will slowly lose ground.”
- Dan Tapiero
The EW&L Perspective
For EW&L, the rise of digital assets doesn’t replace traditional market. It complements them.
Tim summarised it simply:
“Your fund actually falls under two of my highest-conviction themes: Bitcoin and Ethereum, and growth equity. They’re the biggest opportunities I see. And [50T Funds] does both at the same time.”
The message is clear: as technology reshapes global markets, disciplined access to innovation will increasingly define successful portfolio construction.
Listen to the Full Conversation
How a Global Macro Icon Became Crypto’s Kingmaker: The Dan Tapiero Interview
Now streaming on The Exchange podcast by Emanuel Whybourne & Loehr.
