EOS VC Fund is the venture arm of Block.one, the technology company behind the EOS blockchain. Block.one established the fund in 2018 following its record-breaking EOS initial coin offering, which raised approximately $4 billion between 2017 and 2018. The fund was seeded with a $1 billion commitment from Block.one, making it one of the largest dedicated blockchain ecosystem funds at the time of its launch.
The fund's stated purpose was to accelerate adoption of the EOS public blockchain by deploying capital into startups building on EOS or aligned with its broader vision of high-throughput, low-fee decentralized applications. Rather than operating as a single standalone fund, Block.one structured EOS VC as a series of partnerships with established venture firms, each of which managed a tranche of capital focused on specific geographies or verticals. Partner firms included SVB Capital, Galaxy Digital, Finlab AG, and Consensus Lab, among others. This approach allowed Block.one to tap external deal flow and due diligence capacity while maintaining the EOS branding.
Notable Investments
- Bitfinex / iFinex – Block.one was a known investor in iFinex, the parent company of the Bitfinex exchange and Tether issuer, though the exact vehicle and terms were not publicly disclosed.
- Voice – Block.one's own social media platform built on EOS, which received internal capital allocation. The project was ultimately wound down after failing to achieve meaningful user adoption.
- Several early-stage EOS dApp teams and infrastructure providers received grants and equity investments, though most were not publicly disclosed. Public information about specific portfolio names beyond these is limited.
Team
Brendan Blumer served as CEO of Block.one and was the primary architect of the EOS VC strategy. He previously built gaming asset trading businesses in Asia before pivoting to blockchain. Daniel Larimer, Block.one's CTO and the creator of the EOS consensus mechanism, departed the company in January 2021. Day-to-day management of EOS VC partner relationships was handled by Block.one's business development team; no dedicated public-facing fund managers were named for the vehicle itself.
Recent Activity
Block.one settled with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in September 2019, paying $24 million to resolve charges that its EOS token sale constituted an unregistered securities offering. The settlement did not require an admission of wrongdoing but added regulatory scrutiny to the fund's operations. In 2021, Block.one announced a rebranding effort and pivot toward a new blockchain project called Bullish, a regulated cryptocurrency exchange that went public via SPAC. Investment activity under the EOS VC banner slowed significantly after 2021, and public announcements of new portfolio companies largely ceased.
EOS VC Fund occupies an unusual place in crypto venture history – born from one of the largest fundraises ever recorded in the space, yet producing a portfolio that remained modest in size (publicly tracked at roughly nine companies) relative to the capital available. The EOS ecosystem itself lost substantial developer and user momentum to competing smart-contract platforms, particularly Ethereum and Solana, which compressed the addressable deal flow for the fund's original thesis. Whether remaining portfolio positions generate returns will depend largely on the longer-term trajectory of the EOS network and Block.one's successor ventures.