Kyle Samani

Who they are

Kyle Samani is co-founder of Multicoin Capital — he previously built and sold Pristine, an enterprise smart-glasses software company, before pivoting to found one of crypto's best-known thesis-driven investment firms.

Person

Kyle studied business at NYU's Stern School before taking his first bet as an operator: he co-founded Pristine, an enterprise software company building solutions for smart glasses aimed at deskless workers, which raised over $5M in VC before being acquired by Upskill in 2017. That exit landed the same year he co-founded Multicoin Capital from scratch, joining as a newly minted firm with no AUM and a thesis-driven approach to crypto that most institutional investors hadn't yet taken seriously. Over the next eight years, he grew Multicoin to a firm with AUM that rose by over 50% from 2023 to 2024 alone, backing projects across the Solana ecosystem and beyond. He stepped down as managing director at Multicoin in 2025, taking his exit from the Master Fund in Forward Industries shares and warrants rather than cash — an unusually convicted way to leave. Since stepping back, he's publicly named AI, robotics, and longevity as his next areas of focus. He's a prolific podcast guest and blogger — appearing on Capital Allocators, Galaxy Brains, SXSW, SALT, and the Solana Podcast among others — writing and speaking on crypto investment thesis, blockchain ecosystems, and more recently the geopolitics of stablecoins. The through-line: founder who exits, bets on an emerging asset class at the edge of credibility, builds conviction publicly, then walks toward the next frontier.

Company

Multicoin's most recent disclosed deal is a $72 million Series A co-led with SignalFire for Fun, a payments infrastructure startup, closing in January 2026. In late 2025, Multicoin co-led a $225 million round for Wormhole, a full-stack interoperability platform. The firm also participated in a $1.65 billion private investment in public equity for Forward Industries (FWDI), a Solana-focused treasury company, in 2025. Multicoin has been recognized as possibly the best-performing venture fund of all time in crypto, though it faces lawsuits and criticism tied to its closeness to contentious projects. The firm's portfolio includes 11 unicorns, 1 IPO, and 5 acquisitions across companies like Aptos, StarkWare, and Helium.

Market

Multicoin operates in crypto venture and hedge fund investing, competing for deals against firms like Paradigm, Pantera, Electric Capital, Haun Ventures, and Polychain. The regulatory backdrop shifted materially in 2025 when the GENIUS Act created a federal framework legitimizing USD-backed stablecoins, opening institutional appetite for payments and stablecoin infrastructure — exactly where Multicoin's recent deals (Mountain Protocol's USDM, Fun) are concentrated. The broader geopolitical dynamic — the U.S. using the dollar as a sanctions tool, driving other countries toward alternative rails — gives Multicoin's stablecoin thesis a macro tailwind that goes beyond pure crypto cycle exposure.

Network

Kyle's closest named collaborator is Tushar Jain, co-founder and continuing managing partner at Multicoin Capital, who remains at the helm following Kyle's step-back. He has a documented relationship with Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana, including a public conversation on the Solana Podcast during the March 2020 'Black Thursday' market event — a signal of how early and deeply Multicoin was embedded in the Solana ecosystem.

Tushar Jain· Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Multicoin Capital
Anatoly Yakovenko· Co-Founder, Solana

How they likely show up

Founded Multicoin Capital in 2017 and stayed for nearly eight years → thinks in long conviction cycles, not opportunistic pivots.
Exited the Multicoin Master Fund in Forward Industries shares and warrants rather than cash → puts money where the thesis is; comfort with illiquid, concentrated bets is a feature, not a bug.
Described as 'thought-leader' with active blogging and appearances across Capital Allocators, SXSW, SALT, and Galaxy Brains → comfortable building a public intellectual position and defending it in front of varied audiences.
Moved from enterprise software operator (Pristine) to crypto fund founder to now pursuing AI and robotics → pattern of rotating toward whatever the next underpriced technological wave is, not staying in a comfortable lane.
Publicly named AI, robotics, and longevity as next focus areas immediately after stepping down → telegraphs moves openly rather than operating quietly; likely expects the same transparency in return.

Conversation tips

→ Reference a specific Multicoin thesis piece or podcast appearance — he's built a large public intellectual record and will clock whether you've actually read it.
→ Ask about the Pristine-to-Multicoin transition — moving from enterprise hardware software to crypto fund in 2017 was a non-obvious call, and he'll have a crisp story about why.
→ He stepped down from Multicoin taking Forward Industries equity instead of cash — don't dance around it; it's fair game and he's clearly comfortable with the decision.
→ He's signaling AI and robotics as his next chapter — if that's your context, lead with a specific question about how he's thinking about it differently from how he approached crypto in 2017.
→ Don't try to sell him on broad crypto optimism — he's been in it since 2017 and runs on thesis specifics, not sentiment.

Toolbox

Openers

Open on the Forward Industries exit structure — he took shares and warrants instead of cash when leaving Multicoin, a pointed expression of conviction in the Solana treasury thesis worth unpacking.
Reference the Galaxy Brains episode on Solana's big treasury company — it's a recent, named appearance where he laid out his thinking on Solana-native corporate treasuries, and it ties directly to his current position.
Bring up Pristine — the enterprise smart-glasses company he built and sold to Upskill in 2017 — as the origin of his operator instincts before crypto, and ask how that shapes how he evaluates founders now.

Discovery questions

When you co-led the Wormhole round at $225M in late 2025, what made interoperability infrastructure the right bet at that scale and at that moment in the cycle?
You've publicly named AI, robotics, and longevity as your next focus — how differently are you approaching conviction-building there compared to how you approached crypto in 2017?
Multicoin's thesis has leaned into the geopolitics of stablecoins — with the GENIUS Act now in place, does US regulatory clarity help or complicate the macro thesis around dollar alternatives?

Avoid

Don't open with generic crypto market commentary or cycle talk — he operates on thesis specifics and has been on record discussing these ideas across dozens of public forums; surface-level takes will signal you haven't done the work.

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