Pantera founder explains Solana DAT HSDT

Note: On September 16, Pantera Capital founder Dan Morehead shared his views on Solana, DAT, and Solana DAT company HSDT on the CNBC Squawk Box program.

Andrew: "This morning Pantera announced that the Solana digital asset treasury company, HSDT, is going public on the Nasdaq. Dan Morehead is the man behind this. He's the founder and managing partner of Pantera. Help explain what's going on. I'd like to understand what you're doing and also the larger phenomenon of these treasury companies and how we, the public, and investors should view them."

Dan: "For 12 years, Pantera has been working to provide access to blockchain investment, but it's generally only been available to institutional investors. This is the first product we're launching that can be purchased directly with a brokerage account. It gives everyday investors access to cryptocurrency. Until now, there hasn't even been an ETF for Solana, so it's been very difficult for everyday investors to get exposure to Solana."

Andrew: "Is this a leveraged fund?"

Dan: "No, it's just a way to own Solana and get a yield without leverage. It's actually a very simple company."

Andrew: "As more and more people get exposure to physical cryptocurrency, how do you think that will change the dynamic between money managers and ETFs? I think a big question is, will people be able to invest directly through Coinbase or other ways to buy Bitcoin, or you can buy Solana, or buy it now through Treasury. How do you think this combination will develop over time?"

Dan: "It's an evolution. We launched the world's first Bitcoin fund. That was the easiest way to get in at the time. Now ETFs are very easy - you don't need a wallet, you don't need to do all this complicated stuff. All major currencies will go through this evolution. Just like Solana right now, there is no ETF. It's difficult to get in. Most people don't have a Coinbase wallet. So for people with brokerage accounts, this is the easiest way to get in."

Andrew: "How do you think Ethereum compares to Solana right now?"

Dan: "Over time, there will be a lot of important blockchains. Solana It's the fastest, cheapest, and highest-performing. As a result, it's outperformed Bitcoin over the past four years. That's why we want to give everyday investors access to some of the lesser-known projects that are actually performing well."

Andrew: "Do you think one of them is better? They have different use cases. Is it a winner-take-all situation? What are your thoughts?"

Dan: "There's no winner-take-all situation on the internet. We have a lot of different internet companies. There will be a lot of important blockchains in the future, but our largest position is Solana. We have $1.1 billion invested in Solana on the books."

Andrew: "But how many different protocols do you think there will be in the long term? Yes, there are a lot of companies, but there aren't that many protocols on the internet."

Dan: "I think there will be only a single-digit number of Layer 1s. There are definitely more than one, not thousands, like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana."

Andrew: "So, have you seen anything that makes you think, 'This technology is actually better'?"

Dan: "Currently, Solana It is our largest position. We have also held a large position in Ethereum in the past. We were 100% Bitcoin holders before and something new may come out tomorrow. ”

Andrew: “Is there anything you’re interested in?” I ask this question because I wish Solana had been born many years ago. Ethereum was born many years ago. Bitcoin was also born many, many years ago. I hope technology and technologists have found better solutions since then. ”

Dan: “Solana can process 9 billion transactions per day, which is more than all capital markets combined. So, you don't need to develop anything else after Solana. ”

Andrew: “So you think it’s not important. ”

Dan: “There may be other use cases, such as Ripple chasing Bitcoin’s digital gold after Swift. While there are a few different primary use cases, Solana excels as a high-performance blockchain. ”

Andrew: “Is this all about staking? ”

Dan: “Yes, Salana’s yield typically is about 7%. One more thing, a typical investor who purchases $10,000 of Solana, probably doesn't know how to stake. And our digital asset treasury company will help them do this. ”

Andrew: “Explain to the public how it works. ”

Dan: “Staking is troublesome. You have to find a staking company and pay all the fees. So it's really troublesome. Although some people can do it themselves, it is very troublesome. So most people won't do it. ”

Andrew: “When you look at the price of Bitcoin now, since you started there, where do you think it will end up, and what do you think the window is now? "

Dan: "I told you so. We did this for 12 years, roughly doubling every year. So I think this is going to continue for at least the next few years. That's still a very low percentage of global wealth, in the single digits, so I think it could go up to $750,000 in the next four or five years. ”

Andrew: “So you don’t belong to the million camp? ”

Dan: “Not in the next four or five years, but in our lifetime, to reach a million dollars. ”

Andrew: “So you are on Ethereum and Solana Dan: “So I think Solana has a market cap of one-twentieth the size of Bitcoin. So I think it will outperform over time, and I think our view right now is that it’s outperforming Ethereum.”