The firm

Six people. Three continents. One confirmation.

A deliberately small team — about six people across three continents — run as a Registered Investment Adviser from Palo Alto, California.

Est. 2017Palo Alto, California~6 people across 3 continentsEarly-stage crypto venture fund · Registered Investment Adviser

Origin

It started with $26M and a worldview.

1confirmation was founded in 2017, when Nick Tomaino — early Coinbase, then Principal at Runa Capital — raised a $26M first fund backed by Peter Thiel, Chris Dixon and Marc Andreessen. Fund II followed, doubling down on art, DeFi and open networks. Fund III, $125M in 2021, went where the firm had already been living: culture, consumer crypto and prediction markets.

The worldview has not moved since the first check. Open networks are empowering the masses, and the work is supporting exceptional founders fueling the decentralization of the web and society. In practice that meant leading the seeds of OpenSea, dYdX, SuperRare, Polkadot and Cosmos — and early bets on CryptoPunks, Beeple and Pak before NFTs hit a single headline.

It also means being comfortable alone. Nick is decidedly not an Ethereum maxi; the conviction goes to founders and open networks, not to any one chain. Today that record reads: $1B+ under management, 82+ investments, 19+ exits — and the #9 seat on the Forbes Midas List for seed investing, 2022.

“Open networks are empowering the masses.”

The 1confirmation thesis, unchanged since 2017

The partners

The people on the plaque.

Two general partners write the checks and hang the collection. Portraits from the gallery's generative pixel series.

Nick TomainoFounder & General Partner

Pixel study from the gallery's generative series.

Nick Tomaino

Founder & General Partner

Nick was an early Coinbase employee, leading business development and marketing in the company's earliest days. He was famously fired from Coinbase — a story he tells openly, and the push that sent him into venture.

After a stint as Principal at Runa Capital, he founded 1confirmation in 2017 with a $26M seed fund backed by Peter Thiel, Chris Dixon and Marc Andreessen. He led seed investments in OpenSea, dYdX, SuperRare, Polkadot and Cosmos, and made early bets on CryptoPunks and the artists Pak and Beeple — before NFTs hit a single headline.

He studied at Bowdoin College and attended Yale School of Management for a year before leaving to join Coinbase. He publishes at The Control, and he is decidedly not an Ethereum maxi — conviction over consensus, every time.

  • Forbes Midas List #9 — Seed (2022)

  • Led seeds: OpenSea, dYdX, SuperRare, Polkadot, Cosmos

  • Early Coinbase — business development & marketing

  • Writes at thecontrol.co

@NTmoney The Control
Richard ChenGeneral Partner

Pixel study from the gallery's generative series.

Richard Chen

General Partner

Richard created Cryptoart.io — the crypto-art data platform that tracks sales across SuperRare, Nifty Gateway, Foundation, MakersPlace, KnownOrigin, Async Art, Art Blocks, hic et nunc and more. What began as a labor of love became a serious industry resource, tracking a market that grew past $2B.

He is an avid crypto-art collector himself, deeply embedded in the NFT and digital-art community, and writes extensively on crypto — thesis pieces, market analysis, and the culture in between.

His focus areas span OpenSea, Coinbase, Polymarket, Primitive, Forte, bloXroute, Catalog, Worldcoin, Hop and the consumer frontier.

  • Creator of Cryptoart.io — $2B+ market tracked

  • Focus: OpenSea, Coinbase, Polymarket, Worldcoin

  • Collector, embedded in the crypto-art community

Cryptoart.io

The backers

An unreasonable roster for a seed fund.

Limited partners who backed the fund before backing crypto was respectable.

  • LP · 01Peter Thiel
  • LP · 02Marc Andreessen
  • LP · 03Mark Cuban
  • LP · 04Balaji Srinivasan
  • LP · 05Brendan Eich
  • LP · 06Chris Dixon

The funds

$26M to $1B+, in three confirmations.

Three vintages, one thesis.

2017Fund I$26M

The seed. Backed by Thiel, Dixon, Andreessen.

—Fund II~$60M

Doubling down on art, DeFi and open networks.

2021Fund III$125M

Culture, consumer crypto and prediction markets.

How we partner

Three things founders can hold us to.

01

Conviction over consensus

Seed checks written before the crowd arrives. The firm led the seeds of OpenSea, dYdX, SuperRare, Polkadot and Cosmos — and holds Bitcoin, Ethereum and Cosmos side by side, maxi of none.

02

Culture is the moat

Art first: CryptoPunks, Beeple and Pak before NFTs hit a single headline. Fund III went where the firm had already been living — culture, consumer crypto and prediction markets.

03

First check, long hold

Seed-stage since 2017, across three funds. 82+ investments and 19+ exits later, the earliest positions are still on the wall.

Contact

The fastest confirmation is a public one.

No forms, no funnels. The firm works in the open — the front door is public, and the partners answer there.

Pitch us — @1confirmation Nick — @NTmoney The Control Cryptoart.io

459 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, CA · Early-stage crypto venture fund · Registered Investment Adviser

Or take the slow confirmation — a newsletter on open networks, digital art and the decentralization of society, from the partners.