Bloomberg: The "Princeton Mafia" is stirring up a crypto treasury craze

Source: Bloomberg

Compiled by: Zhou, ChainCatcher

Prominent figures in the crypto space, including Mike Novogratz of Galaxy Digital and Dan Morehead of Pantera Capital, have repeatedly emerged in a series of transactions, shaping one of the boldest bets in the new era of crypto: the digital asset treasury boom.

These publicly traded companies (about 85 this year and still growing) have raised billions from a variety of investors from the U.S., Gulf countries, and Asia. Their strategy involves fundraising using Wall Street tactics, hoarding crypto assets, and repeating the process. Week after week, many of the same names keep appearing in the boldest transactions in the industry.

Novogratz, Morehead, and Joe Lubin (co-founder of Ethereum), along with their Princeton classmates and long-time friends, are not just veterans of the crypto industry; they are central figures in this high-stakes push for digital assets, coinciding with a broader treasury wave that is beginning to show signs of instability—yet their bond traces back to their undergraduate days at Princeton in the 1980s.

Back then, Novogratz and Lubin were college roommates, with Novogratz being a wrestler from the East Coast and Lubin a squash player skilled in computer science. Morehead was a football-playing engineering student living nearby. These connections have shaped decades of crypto trading partnerships.

While tight-knit networks are common in traditional finance, the crypto industry is built on the promise of decentralization and anonymity. However, these familiar faces tell a different story, a dynamic that has led them to be dubbed the "Princeton Mafia" by Fortune magazine.

Novogratz leads Galaxy, a giant in digital asset financial services; Morehead is the CEO of Pantera Capital, one of the earliest crypto investment firms; Lubin is a co-founder of Ethereum, running the blockchain software company Consensys and serving as chairman of the publicly traded Ethereum treasury company SharpLink.

As momentum builds and well-known figures take the helm, the question becomes whether DAT (Digital Asset Treasury) can continue to deliver returns or if they are built on unstable foundations.

"With a good story and a good storyteller, you can bring in more capital for Solana or Ethereum, and faster than ever," Novogratz said in an interview.

Galaxy and Pantera are among the top ten DAT investors and lenders. This close orbit also extends to trading facilitators, with about a third of DAT transactions involving the same small group of boutique investment banks. Overall, according to PitchBook data, the top ten DAT investors participated in about 14% of treasury transactions over the past six months. Even excluding the major players, such as significant moves from Michael Saylor's Strategy Inc., DAT has attracted a record $15.4 billion in new capital this year.

For these three Princeton alumni, none of this was pre-planned. But something has persisted since their undergraduate days: a risk appetite and a belief that "Wall Street can be reconstructed faster and lighter." Each has carved out their own path in finance or technology. Then their paths began to cross again. For over a decade, they have exchanged ideas and investments—sharing notes, supporting projects, and occasionally entering deals together.

In May, Lubin helped create the Ethereum treasury company SharpLink Gaming, with Pantera and Galaxy among the investors. Lubin said that friends only discuss DAT after investors have confirmed. Pantera and Galaxy are also investors in BitMine Immersion, a treasury company holding Ethereum. "We are friends, but we don’t see each other every day," Lubin said in a recent interview. "But every time we meet, we have a lot to talk about."

Their companies also compete. In September, Pantera backed a new Solana-focused DAT called Helius. Just days earlier, Galaxy helped launch a competitor called Forward Industries. This was not a coordinated effort. "It just so happens our companies both launched Solana DATs within a week," Morehead said. Novogratz echoed the sentiment: "We should have called each other to chat, but we didn’t."

Their paths continue to cross, sometimes purely by chance. When Morehead discovered that Novogratz had moved next door in Tokyo, the overlap felt almost surreal. Their alma mater now also reflects this shared legacy. In 2022, Novogratz, Lubin, Morehead, and Briger co-funded a new center at Princeton University—a center for decentralizing power through blockchain technology.

When the SEC signaled it would not classify most tokens as securities, the trading window opened—paving the way for a strategy pioneered by Saylor: fundraising, buying crypto assets, riding the stock price up, and repeating. "We really started to think more creatively and aggressively," Lubin said. "And it makes sense."

This approach has been rewarding until it no longer works. In June, SharpLink, backed by Lubin, saw its stock price plummet 72% in a single day after filing to register a stock offering. BitMine dropped 40% after filing similar documents. These sell-offs serve as a reminder of the inherent volatility that is nerve-wracking in high-wire crypto attempts.

"SharpLink is here for the very long term," Lubin said. "Our current strategy is to continue financing under favorable conditions, keep buying Ether and hold long-term, and continue to seek and deploy Ether in scenarios with favorable risk-adjusted returns."

This week, over $1.5 billion in positions in the crypto market were forcibly liquidated, with no clear triggering factors.

These participants are still expanding their reach. Galaxy often plays the role of service provider—engaging in token staking, designing DeFi strategies, and consulting for teams. Pantera has a risk exposure of over $1 billion in DAT and supports more than 15 companies. "DAT is indeed providing a pathway for a new type of investor to enter the blockchain market," Morehead said.

Novogratz does not believe the market has peaked. "I don’t think all DAT companies will succeed, but if they can achieve critical scale—improving the yield on underlying tokens and building ecosystems—I think they are beneficial for crypto overall. These are the companies that will exist long-term."

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