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Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry

Ben Forman – Opportunities in DeFi (EP.256, Crypto for Institutions 2, EP.03)

Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry

Ted Seides – Allocator and Asset Management Expert

Investing, Capitalallocation, Business

4.8806 Ratings

🗓️ 20 June 2022

⏱️ 77 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ben Forman is the Founder and Managing Partner of ParaFi Capital, a $1 billion investment and technology firm that focuses on decentralized finance across digital assets, venture equity, and quantitative strategies. Ben launched ParaFi in 2018 after a decade in traditional finance roles across investment banking, credit investing, and private equity at venerable institutions such as Rothschild, TPG, and KKR.

Our conversation covers Ben’s background, pivot to crypto, and launch of ParaFi into a bear market. We then discuss opportunities in the world of DeFi, including borrowing and lending, stablecoins, scaling, insurance, governance, and capital allocation. We close with ParaFi’s research and valuation approach, engagement with DeFi protocols, and seeding crypto managers.

 

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Capital Allocators is brought to you by Ten East, an investment platform for sophisticated investors to access private markets.

0:10.5

Ten East brings benefits of having your own family office without the cost and headaches of doing so.

0:16.8

It's founded and led by Michael LaFelle, former deputy executive managing member of Davidson Kempner.

0:24.2

Michael and his investment team offer members the opportunity to co-invest by offering at their

0:29.1

discretion. Michael and his team source, diligence, and commit material personal capital to each

0:35.3

investment. The opportunities shared on the Ten East platform

0:38.9

offer exposure to private credit, real estate, niche venture and private equity, and other

0:44.5

idiosyncratic investments that typically aren't available through traditional channels.

0:49.2

The principles have over a decade track record of investing in these types of exposures

0:53.5

across more than 350

0:55.7

transactions. Post-investment, the Tennis team conducts ongoing monitoring and reporting,

1:01.8

just as you'd expect from an institutional investment organization. I've known Michael for about a

1:07.0

decade, and after becoming impressed by the quality of 10 East offerings, its research

1:11.6

process, and high-quality investment team, I became an advisor to the organization, an investor

1:17.1

in multiple offerings. You can learn more and join me as a member at 10east.com. That's the number

1:24.6

10, east.co.

1:31.9

Thank you. That's the number 10, east.co. Last year, we shared a mini-series called Crypto for Institutions to cover the basics of the rapidly evolving ecosystem from an investor's perspective.

1:41.8

Through conversations with Eric Peters at One River, Michael Sonnuchin from

1:45.9

Grayscale, Seth Jins from Coin Fund, and Ari Paul from Block Tower, we covered the case for Bitcoin,

1:52.9

a path to access, investing beyond Bitcoin, and trading strategies. Over the next three weeks,

1:59.5

we'll dive in a little deeper with crypto for institutions

2:02.8

too. This six-part miniseries explores where we are today in the rapidly evolving world

...

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