New Crypto VC Firm Credibly Neutral Raises $5.5M

Credibly Neutral, a new crypto venture capital firm, has raised $5.5 million from a collection of investors that includes the co-founders of the Solana and Polygon blockchains and the investment firm of Joe Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum and founder of ConsenSys. The firm was founded by Viktor Bunin, who leads the protocol operations team at Coinbase Cloud, and Lisa Cuesta Bunin, chief operating officer at Ethereum privacy startup Aztec Protocol.

Brooklyn, New York-based Credibly Neutral is an early-stage-focused fund that will invest $50,000 to $250,000 in protocols, infrastructure and crypto software-as-a-service (SaaS) projects. Areas of investment interest include layer 1 and 2 blockchains, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, developer tools, security software, analytics tools and the rails needed to transfer fiat in and out of crypto.

“Credible neutrality can be defined as transparent systems that create an equal playing field for all participants. We are passionate about investing in teams and communities who are building protocols, tools and products that provide open access and fuel innovation,” Lisa Cuesta Bunin said in an email to CoinDesk.

Investors in the round included Anthony Sassano (author of Ethereum-focused Substack, Daily Gwei), Patricio Worthalter (founder of “proof of attendance” protocol POAP), Surojit Chatterjee (former chief product officer of crypto exchange Coinbase), Joe Lallouz and Aaron Henshaw (founders of blockchain infrastructure provider Bison Trails), Solana co-founders Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal, Mara Schmiedt (CEO of staking system Alluvial), Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal and Joe Lubin's Ethereal Ventures, among others.

UPDATE (May 3, 13:28 UTC): Adds Joe Lubin's participation in first, final paragraphs.