Ten31 is a Bitcoin-focused venture fund based in the United States. The firm takes a narrow, conviction-driven approach: it invests exclusively in companies building on or around Bitcoin, deliberately excluding the broader altcoin and "crypto" ecosystem. The fund's name references October 31, 2008 – the date Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin whitepaper – a signal of the team's ideological alignment as much as a branding choice.
The firm was established in the early 2020s as Bitcoin-native venture activity began maturing into a distinct category, separate from general crypto funds. Ten31 targets infrastructure, financial services, privacy tooling, and payments companies whose products depend on Bitcoin's properties – sound money, censorship resistance, and programmable settlement. The fund operates with a long-term thesis: that Bitcoin becomes the base layer for a parallel financial system, and that early infrastructure investments will compound over a decade-plus horizon.
Public information on Ten31's total assets under management has not been formally disclosed. The firm has completed at least two fund cycles, with Fund I focused on early-stage Bitcoin infrastructure and subsequent capital deployed into follow-on rounds for portfolio companies gaining traction.
Notable Investments
- River Financial – Bitcoin-only brokerage and financial services platform targeting long-term holders and institutions.
- Fold – Bitcoin rewards application and debit card program, converting everyday spending into Bitcoin back.
- Strike – Lightning Network payments platform enabling fast, low-cost Bitcoin transfers and global remittances.
- Unchained Capital – Bitcoin-native financial services firm offering collaborative custody, IRAs, and Bitcoin-backed lending.
- Zaprite – Bitcoin and Lightning invoicing and payments infrastructure for businesses.
- Blockstream – Bitcoin infrastructure company behind the Liquid Network sidechain, mining hardware, and developer tools.
The portfolio reflects a consistent pattern: companies that treat Bitcoin as the only asset worth building around, with products generating real revenue from custody, payments, or financial services rather than token issuance.
Team
Marty Bent co-founded Ten31 and serves as a managing partner. He is widely known in Bitcoin circles as the creator of the TFTC (Tales from the Crypt) podcast, one of the longest-running and most influential Bitcoin media properties. His network spans protocol developers, operators, and institutional allocators, giving Ten31 early access to deals before they reach broader VC attention.
Andrew Hohns is a co-founder and managing partner. He brings a background in traditional finance and structured products, complementing Bent's media and community presence with institutional capital markets experience. Public information on other team members or advisors is limited beyond these two principals.
Recent Activity
Through 2024 and into 2025, Ten31 increased its focus on Bitcoin's expanding financial services layer as institutional adoption accelerated following the approval of US spot Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024. The fund continued backing companies positioned to serve the wave of new retail and institutional participants entering the market through compliant, regulated channels. River Financial, one of its core holdings, saw significant growth as a custody and brokerage option for long-term accumulators.
Ten31 has also been vocal in the Bitcoin community about the risks of venture capital diluting Bitcoin-native values – a stance that functions both as genuine conviction and as a differentiation strategy against multi-chain funds like a16z crypto or Paradigm.
The fund's geographic focus sits primarily in the United States, though its portfolio companies – particularly in payments and Lightning infrastructure – operate globally. Ten31 remains one of the few specialist funds to explicitly restrict its mandate to a single asset, a bet that Bitcoin's dominance over the long term justifies concentration over diversification. Whether that thesis holds across a full market cycle remains to be seen, but the firm's portfolio quality and team credibility place it among the more credible Bitcoin-native investors currently active.