资本管理公司正在抵制席卷同行加密货币投资公司的人工智能热潮，凭借其在数字资产方面的专业知识，赌注在于这能让它在寻找有前景的企业时占据优势。
Capital Management is resisting the rush into artificial intelligence that has swept up rival crypto investment firms, betting its expertise in digital assets gives it an edge in finding promising businesses.
总部位于奥斯汀的该公司管理资产达27亿美元，投资于初创企业和加密货币。根据该公司普通合伙人兼风险投资联合负责人斯宾塞·阿普尔鲍姆的说法，该公司正在延迟部署其于2022年募集的最新风险基金，但并未扩大其投资范围以涵盖独立的人工智能企业。
The Austin-based firm, which has $2.7 billion of assets under management, invests in startups and cryptocurrencies. It is taking longer to deploy its latest venture fund, raised in 2022, but isn’t broadening its mandate to cover standalone AI businesses, according to Spencer Applebaum, general partner and co-head of venture.
“我们相信我们在加密货币领域具有优势，我们希望忠于这一点，”阿普尔鲍姆在接受彭博社采访时表示。他于2018年加入该公司。
“We believe we have an edge in crypto, and we want to stay true to it,” Applebaum, who joined the firm in 2018, said in an interview with Bloomberg.
该策略使Multicoin在行业中脱颖而出，该行业正面临因争夺投资者资金而难以筹集新资金的困境，因为人工智能正在吸引资金。范式、框架风险投资管理公司和Haun风险投资公司已经将其投资范围扩展到了数字资产之外。范式公司今年募集了12亿美元，用于设立一个其职责范围包括人工智能和机器人技术的基金。
The strategy sets Multicoin apart in an industry facing difficulty raising fresh funds amid competition for investors’ money from AI. Paradigm, Framework Ventures Management and Haun Ventures have expanded their mandates beyond digital assets. Paradigm raised $1.2 billion this year for a fund whose remit includes AI and robotics.
加密货币行业的成熟以及较少具有吸引力的投资机会也促使投资者转向其他领域。
A maturing crypto industry with fewer compelling investment opportunities has also encouraged investors to look elsewhere.
根据Galaxy Research的数据，加密货币初创企业的融资速度与去年相当，上半年大约投入了100亿美元，而2025年全年则为200亿美元。但为新投资基金筹集资本仍然困难。根据该研究公司的数据，投资者在第二季度向五只新的加密货币聚焦型风险基金分配了大约39亿美元，这是自2019年最后一个季度以来新设立的基金数量最少。
Funding for crypto startups is running at a similar pace to last year, with roughly $10 billion invested in the first half compared with $20 billion for all of 2025, according to Galaxy Research. But raising capital for new investment funds remains difficult. Investors allocated about $3.9 billion to five new crypto-focused venture funds in the second quarter, the fewest new funds raised since the last quarter of 2019, according to the research firm.
由于今年大部分时间里对数字资产的投机需求仍然低迷，零售和机构资金正流向人工智能。根据Crunchbase的数据，人工智能聚焦型公司在第三季度捕获了美国和加拿大初创企业所获资本的大约三分之二。
As speculative appetite for digital assets remained subdued for much of this year, retail and institutional money has flowed into AI. AI-focused companies captured roughly two-thirds of the capital invested in US and Canadian startups in the third quarter, according to Crunchbase.
据阿普尔鲍姆介绍，由于从未进行过纯粹的人工智能领域投资，Multicoin在人工智能领域难以发挥其在加密货币领域所具备的优势。他表示，该公司的过往业绩及行业人脉使其成为创业者们最先寻求合作的投资者之一。
Having never made a pure-play AI investment, though, Multicoin would lack the advantages it has in the crypto space, according to Applebaum. The company’s track record and relationships make it one of the first investors that entrepreneurs approach, he said.
“总体而言，人们试图在加密货币与人工智能的交汇点寻找一个实际上并不存在的市场需求，”他说道，“很多投资者都在强行促成这种结合。”阿普尔鲍姆指出，2022年该基金的投资节奏相对缓慢，原因在于当年加密货币交易所FTX倒闭后整个行业的估值水平出现下滑。
“For the most part, people are in search of a problem that doesn’t exist at the intersection of crypto and AI,” he said. “A lot of investors are trying to force it.”Applebaum attributed the slower pace of investment of the 2022 fund to valuations declining after the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX that year.
“2023年全年，我们陆续看到一些种子轮融资案例：融资额约为300万美元，融资后的企业估值则达到3000万美元，”阿普尔鲍姆说道，“对于一只拥有4.22亿美元规模的基金而言，若只能进行此类规模的融资活动，资金完全投放到位必然需要更长时间。”Multicoin对数字资产的投入还延伸至其旗下的对冲基金，该基金直接买卖各类加密货币。据阿普尔鲍姆透露，该基金持仓量最大的加密货币便是HYPE，这种代币与去中心化衍生品交易所Hyperliquid密切相关。
“Throughout 2023, we started seeing seed rounds of roughly $3 million at $30 million post-money valuations,” Applebaum said. “When those are the types of rounds you’re seeing with a $422 million fund, it’s going to take a lot longer to deploy.”Multicoin’s commitment to digital assets extends to its hedge fund, which buys cryptocurrencies directly. Its biggest position is HYPE, the cryptocurrency associated with decentralized derivatives exchange Hyperliquid, Applebaum said.
他表示，Multicoin是在公开市场上购入这些代币的。虽然他拒绝透露具体的持仓规模，但强调Multicoin通常会在数年时间内持有这些公开交易的投资标的，而非仅持有几天或几周。
The firm bought the tokens on the open market, he said. He declined to disclose the size of the holding, but said Multicoin typically holds its publicly traded investments for years rather than days or weeks.