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The Twenty Minute VCNick Tomaino: The Future of NFTs, What Will Happen with FTX & Who Should be Held to Account | E1076
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At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Nick Tomaino on NFTs, FTX’s perception fraud, and disciplined crypto VC
- Nick Tomaino, founder of crypto fund One Confirmation, recounts his path from early Coinbase employee to independent, early‑stage crypto investor and explains how getting pushed out of Coinbase and even being hacked shaped his persistence and conviction.
- He outlines his disciplined approach to fund size, loss rates, and liquidity, arguing that crypto VCs should be benchmarked against holding BTC/ETH and be radically more transparent about returns rather than obsessed with prestige and AUM.
- Tomaino is sharply critical of the “fraud of perception” around FTX and the broader ecosystem of politicians, media, and VCs that amplified it, while also defending crypto’s long‑term potential and outlining why he remains bullish on NFTs as creator business models and new asset classes.
- He discusses authenticity, memetic desire (via René Girard), prediction markets, OpenSea, Solana, and how to stay independent‑minded and principled without becoming blindly dogmatic in a hype‑driven industry.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasStart small and stay disciplined with fund size to preserve strategy quality.
Tomaino deliberately kept One Confirmation funds relatively small (from $26M to $130M) to remain focused on bleeding‑edge, early‑stage crypto rather than chasing management fees and growth‑stage deals that often distort incentives.
Benchmark crypto VC performance against a simple BTC/ETH basket.
He argues LPs should ask whether a crypto fund’s net returns materially beat a low‑fee 50/50 Bitcoin–Ethereum allocation, since that is the true opportunity cost of paying 2-and-20 in this asset class.
Use big wins to de‑risk but keep most of the position for long‑term upside.
For large winners (e.g., later‑stage positions like OpenSea), Tomaino suggests prudently selling 10–30% to return cash while holding the majority over a 10‑year horizon aligned with the original thesis.
Prioritize authenticity and founder quality over narratives and hype cycles.
He attributes One Confirmation’s near‑zero loss rate in Fund I to deep founder diligence, ‘vibe checks,’ and ignoring narrative‑driven fads like ICOs when founders appeared short‑term or extractive.
Recognize and resist the ‘fraud of perception’ in high‑status deals.
The FTX saga, in his view, shows how investors, media, and politicians can amplify outward prestige while ignoring underlying behavior; investors should interrogate incentives and mechanics, not just reputations and PR.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesIt wasn’t just a financial fraud. It was a fraud of perception which they all played a role in.
— Nick Tomaino
I feel like I made my own luck in a lot of ways. I feel like I had a lot of bad luck that I persisted through.
— Nick Tomaino
Crypto is the most important social technology of our lifetime.
— Nick Tomaino
Every LP should be thinking: if I’m giving this fund manager money, are they going to significantly outperform 50% Bitcoin and 50% ETH to justify the fees?
— Nick Tomaino
At the end of the day, I think NFTs are an incredible business model for creators on the internet.
— Nick Tomaino
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
