Angels to Allocators Austin Barack – Navigating Market Cycles at Relayer Capital – ep 38
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Sep 3, 2025 Austin Barack, founder and managing partner of Relayer Capital, shares his fascinating journey from poker player to crypto investor. He discusses his shift from skepticism about Bitcoin to embracing Ethereum, which led him to create his startup. Austin sheds light on navigating market cycles, blending venture capital with liquid strategies, and the importance of balancing early-stage investments with liquid assets. He also explores the future of tokens, highlighting the potential for growth in DeFi and the integration of crypto with traditional finance.
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First Crypto Moment: Poker And Bitcoin
- Austin first encountered Bitcoin via a poker game where the buy-in was one Bitcoin worth about $40.
- That early experience led him to explore crypto further and later join Payoneer, linking payments to crypto interest.
Pre-DeFi Institutional Lending Experiment
- Prometarium began as an institutional-focused borrow/lend product before DeFi protocols matured.
- The team targeted institutions that would want capital efficiency and repo-like products for crypto holdings.
Joining CoinFund During A Transition
- Austin joined CoinFund in September 2020 and worked across both venture and liquid strategies during a highly active period.
- He connected remotely at first, then helped invest through the DeFi and NFT booms that followed.