Bitcoin is struggling to hold above $73,000 and crypto sentiment has been deeply negative for weeks. Mason Nystrom, junior partner at Pantera Capital, joined the Milk Road Show recently, explaining why he sees the current environment as an opportunity, not a warning sign.
His thesis cuts directly against the fear dominating markets right now.
The Market Is Pricing Assets Differently Now
Nystrom’s central argument is that the sluggishness is not weakness – it is the market learning to value assets on fundamentals rather than speculation.
“The crypto industry is maturing and starting to look at fundamentals and how we value these assets,” he said. “Starting to value them more based on actual usage and transaction revenue.”
His evidence is specific. In February 2026, Solana led all chains including Ethereum in adjusted stablecoin transaction volume for the first time in its history. The average transaction on Solana runs $4,200. On Ethereum, $45,000.
Two chains serving two distinct markets – retail payments and B2B transactions on one side, institutional capital markets on the other. Nystrom sees both winning.
Where Pantera Is Deploying Capital
Stablecoins have absorbed the largest share of venture investment over the past 12 to 24 months, according to Nystrom. Infrastructure companies Bridge and BNK have already been acquired by major fintech players. The category has found product market fit.
His forward-looking focus sits on three intersecting trends – prediction markets, on-chain capital formation, and what he calls “neo finance.” He describes neo finance as the convergence of crypto, AI, and fintech.
“AI is truly about abundance and more creation and crypto is inherently a technology that provides scarcity and verifiability,” he said. “It’s natural that those two things are complements to each other rather than adversaries.”
What the Fear Is Obscuring
When asked where investors should be looking right now, Nystrom was direct.
“Everything is kind of correlated to the way down and volatility. And so if you can go and analyze assets either in the public crypto markets or the private markets, I think there’s a lot of attractive investments to be made.”
He pointed specifically to tokenization, prediction markets, and stablecoins as the trends Pantera will continue investing across – and argued the more interesting opportunity lies in finding what those trends ripple out into.
The market is pricing assets as if the cycle is over. Pantera is not.
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