Chorus One is a blockchain infrastructure company and staking operator headquartered in Zug, Switzerland. Founded in 2018 by Brian Fabian Crain and Meher Roy – both co-hosts of the long-running Epicenter podcast – the company began as a validator on early proof-of-stake networks and has since grown into one of the largest institutional staking providers globally. Its model sits at the intersection of infrastructure and strategic investment: Chorus One runs validator nodes on the networks it backs, aligning operational incentives with long-term token exposure.
The firm operates across more than 50 proof-of-stake blockchains, managing staked assets on behalf of institutional clients including foundations, funds, and high-net-worth token holders. In 2021 Chorus One closed a Series A funding round reported at approximately $12 million, with participation from investors including Greenfield Capital and others in the Swiss crypto ecosystem. Total assets under management (staked) have not been publicly disclosed in precise figures, though industry estimates placed the figure in the low billions of dollars across all supported networks by 2023–2024. The company also launched OPUS, a liquid staking solution designed to give institutional stakers liquid receipt tokens while their assets remain actively validating.
Notable investments and network participation
- Ethereum (ETH) – Chorus One operates one of the larger non-custodial Ethereum validator sets post-Merge.
- Cosmos / ATOM – an early and significant validator in the Cosmos Hub ecosystem; the team has been active in governance.
- Solana (SOL) – validator and early ecosystem participant since mainnet beta.
- NEAR Protocol – validator and strategic backer from early mainnet stages.
- Polkadot (DOT) and Kusama (KSM) – nominated proof-of-stake validator across both relay chains.
- Avalanche (AVAX) – validator and subnet participant.
- Celestia (TIA) – early validator on the modular data availability network at mainnet launch in 2023.
- Injective (INJ), Osmosis (OSMO), Kava – active validators in the broader Cosmos IBC ecosystem.
Public information on the full breakdown of Chorus One's 16-project investment portfolio beyond validator participation is limited. The firm does not publish a public deal list in the style of traditional venture funds.
Team
Brian Fabian Crain (CEO) and Meher Roy (co-founder) built the company out of their background hosting Epicenter, one of the oldest cryptocurrency interview podcasts. Their public profiles reflect deep familiarity with protocol economics and governance – areas where Chorus One has positioned itself as an active, opinionated validator rather than a passive infrastructure provider. The broader team includes engineers, researchers, and staking economists distributed across Europe and remotely. Public information on other named managing partners or investment committee members is limited.
Recent activity
Between 2024 and early 2026, Chorus One expanded its validator footprint to include newer modular and restaking networks, including participation in EigenLayer restaking infrastructure on Ethereum. The launch of OPUS as a liquid staking product represented a strategic shift toward offering yield-bearing tokens to institutional clients who previously faced illiquidity during staking lock-up periods. The company has also been vocal in on-chain governance across Cosmos Hub and Polkadot, publishing voting rationale publicly – a practice relatively uncommon among validators of its scale.
Chorus One occupies an unusual position in the crypto investment landscape: it generates revenue operationally through validator commissions while simultaneously holding token exposure across the networks it secures. This dual role gives it skin-in-the-game incentives that pure financial investors lack, but also ties its balance sheet performance directly to broader PoS token price cycles. As institutional staking matures and liquid staking derivatives gain regulatory clarity – particularly under the EU's MiCA framework – Chorus One is well-placed to capture institutional mandates in Europe. Its Swiss domicile and long operating history provide credibility in a market where newer entrants compete heavily on yield rates alone. Investors and delegators tracking the firm can find current validator data on chorus.one and its Crunchbase profile.
