This week we’re excited to share an update on Early Riders, the bitcoin-denominated venture firm that has pioneered operating with bitcoin as the hurdle rate.
They raise, deploy, and return capital in bitcoin terms and benchmark every capital allocation decision against simply holding bitcoin. Their focus is the sound-money stack: custody and assurance, institutional access points, and financial services that improve safety, governance, and auditability.
In addition to a brief update on Early Riders’ latest research and portfolio activity, we’re inviting Onramp readers to participate in the '2025 State of the Bitcoin Industry' survey that we’re conducting together.
Why This Survey—and Why Now?
Across our conversations with family offices, RIAs, institutions, founders, and managers, one gap is clear: there is no shared, decision-useful map for approaching bitcoin. Custody practices differ, advisor guidance is uneven, retirement access is inconsistent, and institutional gaps persist.
To bring clarity, Onramp and Early Riders are fielding a concise survey that translates real-world practice into benchmarks and a clean allocator taxonomy.
What You Receive
Early access to a presentation-ready findings deck (charts, data, key takeaways)
Invitation to a virtual roundtable with peers (recording + notes included)
A comprehensive allocator framework that organizes strategies, custody models, advisory workflows, retirement and estate readiness, and infrastructure gaps, plus benchmarks and controls to increase institutional confidence.
Early Riders’ Recent Research
Bitcoin is the True Fintech: Reframes “fintech” around trust-minimized settlement and open monetary rails, not UX overlays—clarifying what actually reduces counterparty and operational risk.
Why Multi-Institution Custody is Winner Takes All: Makes the case that distributed approvals and verifiable controls become the institutional default, compressing single-custodian risk and onboarding friction.
Reckoning with the New Cost of Capital: Shows how fiscal dominance and higher real hurdle rates change venture math, with bitcoin as the reference cost of capital for disciplined deployment.
From Hobbyists to the World: Bitcoin’s Breakout Phase: Maps the adoption S-curve from enthusiasts to institutions, what unlocks the next cohort, and how products must evolve to meet assurance and governance needs.
Metcalfe’s Law, Moore’s Law, and Reflexivity in Bitcoin: How network effects, declining compute costs, and reflexive adoption reinforce each other to create compounding advantages for bitcoin infrastructure—linking these dynamics to custody standardization and board-ready controls
Early Riders’ Recent Investments
Early Riders has made three recent investments across the portfolio. Read the public memos for details on thesis, model, and traction.
If you’re new to Early Riders, you can review the firm’s thesis here or access additional research here.
Thank You
Our goal is to produce a practical reference that improves clarity and speeds up diligence. Your input helps make the benchmarks accurate and useful.
P.S. Please forward this to a CIO, family office principal, founder or allocator who should weigh in. Anyone you share it with also receives early results and the roundtable invite.