Paradigm’s Fred Ehrsam moves to general partner role

Ehrsam founded Paradigm in 2018 with Matt Huang

October 24, 2023 01:52 pm

Paradigm co-founder Fred Ehrsam | Internet Education Foundation/"Fred Ehrsam Keynote Conversation State of the Net 2015 at the Newseum, Washington DC" (CC license)

Paradigm’s Fred Ehrsam announced on Tuesday that he’s moving to General Partner from Managing Partner.

“This change allows me to carve out some time to explore areas of science that are of personal passion for me,” Ehrsam said in a post on X. “I have personally been investing in and supporting bio research for several years and am excited to ramp up these efforts.”

Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang has taken more of the leadership role, Ehrsam added. With the new role, Ehrsam will continue to work on crypto policy, and work with Paradigm’s investing and research teams.

“After starting Coinbase with Brian [Armstrong], I somehow managed to win the co-founder lottery yet again. [Huang] is an excellent leader and investor, and has built an incredible investing and research team at Paradigm,” Ehrsam said.

The Information, which initially reported the news before Ehrsam’s announcement, claims that Paradigm is looking to raise a new fund.

In late September, Paradigm announced that it was creating a new policy lab to focus on solutions to US regulatory issues through a tech focus.

Huang and Ehrsam started the crypto venture capital firm in 2018.

The company is bouncing back after it invested roughly $278 million in the now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX. Huang, who took the stand in former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial earlier this month, said that the investment was now with $0.

As part of his testimony, Huang said he was concerned about “special privileges” potentially being granted to Alameda at the time, though he was assured that wasn’t the case. However, testimonies from other FTX insiders allege that Alameda did receive special treatment.

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