Venture capital company Tribe Capital, which has previously backed cryptocurrency firms Kraken and Bitfinex, has introduced a new crypto fund and is targeting a $100 million raise for the fund, sources familiar with the matter told CoinDesk.

San Francisco-based Tribe, which has $1.6 billion in assets under management, plans to make early-stage investments of $500,000-$3 million in layer 1 and 2 ecosystems, decentralized finance (DeFi) projects and infrastructure plays to bring real-world assets on chain, the sources said.

Specifically, Tribe wants to help drive the development of protocols which can provide security, scalability, liquidity and cross-chain compatibility so that the crypto ecosystem garners greater trust, thus fuelling further adoption.

The "Digital Future Fund I" follows Tribe's previous cryptocurrency fund, for which it raised $75 million in October 2021.

Venture capital and other investments into crypto companies plunged over 90% in January compared to a year earlier, reflecting the turbulent events of 2022 brought to a head by FTX's collapse in November.

Tribe however may not be particularly phased, despite having held FTX in its portfolio. Instead, it was reportedly considering leading a $250 million fund raise to help the bankrupt exchange restart operations.

The VC did not respond to CoinDesk's request for comment.

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Jamie Crawley

Jamie joined CoinDesk as a news reporter in February 2021 after writing widely about crypto and blockchain for two years in other roles. Away from crypto, Jamie runs a lot and loves all things sport. He holds small amounts of BTC, ETH, ADA and LTC.