In a significant shift for the cryptocurrency venture capital landscape, Kyle Samani, the influential co-founder and managing partner of Multicoin Capital, has confirmed his departure from day-to-day operations at the firm to pursue new initiatives in artificial intelligence and robotics. The announcement, first reported by CoinDesk in late 2024 and formalized in a blog post signed by co-founder Tushar Jain and the wider team, concludes Samani's nearly decade-long tenure building one of crypto's most prominent investment firms.
Samani co-founded Multicoin Capital in 2017, guiding it to become a thesis-driven powerhouse known for concentrated, high-conviction bets. The firm gained particular recognition for its early and substantial investments in the Solana (SOL) ecosystem, a strategic focus that paid significant dividends and shaped market narratives. Samani was a vocal advocate for Solana's high-performance architecture, popularizing concepts like "Increase Bandwidth, Reduce Latency" (IBRL).
Despite stepping back from a full-time crypto VC role, Samani's exit is nuanced. He will continue making personal investments in digital assets, particularly those related to Solana, and retains key governance positions. Most notably, he remains Chairman of the Board at Forward Industries, a publicly-traded company that holds a substantial treasury of SOL tokens. He will also serve on the board of cryptography project Zama.
In his remarks, Samani expressed long-term optimism for crypto, citing legislative progress as a key catalyst. He specifically highlighted the proposed U.S. CLARITY Act, a market structure bill aimed at delineating regulatory jurisdiction between the SEC and CFTC. Samani argued that such regulatory clarity could unlock "unprecedented adoption" by providing legal certainty for issuers and exchanges, thereby facilitating greater institutional onboarding and innovation.
His move reflects a broader trend of tech and investment leaders exploring the convergence of blockchain with adjacent fields like AI and decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN). Multicoin Capital will continue operations under the leadership of remaining co-founder Tushar Jain.
