A merchant bank that also runs a fund complex and an incubator sounds like someone trying to do everything at once. Panther Hollow Ventures is betting that doing everything at once is exactly what institutional crypto needs right now.
The New York-based firm, founded in November 2022, has built what it calls a “closed-loop investment platform” that bundles pre-seed venture investing with a structured liquid yield fund. The yield side blends real-world asset strategies with market-neutral digital asset approaches, all wrapped in a formally verified institutional framework.
Built during the wreckage
November 2022 was roughly five minutes after FTX imploded, vaporizing billions in customer funds and sending institutional confidence in crypto to somewhere near absolute zero. Panther Hollow’s founders, crypto attorneys Eric Swartz and Jacqueline Escobar, ran toward it. Swartz serves as Founding GP and General Counsel, while Escobar holds the titles of Founding Partner and COO.
Panther Hollow’s first portfolio company has already achieved a $0 cost basis after raising follow-on institutional capital from firms including Fidelity, Brevan Howard, DRW, and a16z. That happened in under three years from the initial investment.
