Stanley Druckenmiller and Dan Loeb's Third Point back $70 million funding round for crypto asset manager Bitwise

• Stanley Druckenmiller and Dan Loeb's Third Point participated in a $70 million Series B fundraising round for Bitwise Asset Management.
• Bitwise manages the world's largest crypto index fund along with a host of other crypto fund products.
• The round was led by prominent tech investor Elad Gil and Electric Capital and values the company at over $500 million.

Stanley Druckenmiller and Dan Loeb's Third Point participated in a $70 million Series B fundraising round for Bitwise Asset Management, the company announced on Tuesday.

The round was led by prominent tech investor Elad Gil and crypto venture fund Electric Capital and values the company at over $500 million. Prominent investors including Druckenmiller, Third Point, Bridgewater CEO David McCormick, KKR founder Henry Kravis, and others joined the round.

Bitwise manages the world's largest crypto index fund, the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund, along with a host of other crypto fund products. As of the first quarter of 2021, Bitwise managed over $1.2 billion.

The San Francisco-based company plans to use the funding to strengthen its balance sheet and accelerate the national buildout of its organization, team and product suite. Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley said the new capital will cement the company's "position as the premier crypto partner for professional investors."

"We're thrilled to be backing Bitwise," said Loeb, Third Point's CEO and CIO. "Bitwise has assembled a best-in-class team, has built professional-grade products, and is doing all the right things to build an enduring institution in the crypto economy."

The news of Loeb's participation comes a week after The Information reported that his hedge fund is co-leading a new financing round in BlockFi, a wealth management and trading firm for cryptocurrency holders.

Third Point, which manages about $17 billion, disclosed in a regulatory filing in late March that five of its funds hold crypto assets under custody with Coinbase. The amount and duration of investment is currently unclear.

Meanwhile, Stanley Druckenmiller has disclosed that he owns "some" bitcoin, and has also said that owning bitcoin could be a good hedge against inflationary pressure.

Existing Bitwise backers including Highland Capital, Khosla Ventures, Blockchain Capital, Castle Island Ventures, Alison Davis, Adam Nash, and Naval Ravikant participated in Series B round as well.