In the aftermath of the collapse of FTX, which stranded billions of dollars of customers’ digital assets on the exchange, Alexis Ohanian's optimism about crypto’s future was tested. A $176 million fund Ohanian was on the verge of raising in August 2022 evaporated. Thanks largely to the collapse of FTX, which had been the world’s second-largest crypto exchange, an estimated $2.8 billion of bitcoin flowed off centralized rivals over the course of a single month as crypto enthusiasts rushed toward self-custody, protecting their assets from being trapped on third- party platforms and making them nearly impossible to seize. While the collapse left many an embittered investor swearing off crypto forever, Ohanian doubled down on his commitment to invest. “Even if all this experiment produces is a mechanism that enough people believe in to be able to take some notion of ownership or value–as subjective as that might be–from one place to another, that is unfettered, that feels like a win,” says Ohanian. “And even though it is extremely volatile, there are plenty of people who have that generational consciousness of seeing massive inflation. So many countries in Latin America, plenty of countries throughout the world have this notion of it. And so when they see the volatility of cryptocurrency, it's like, ‘Okay, yeah, it's volatile, but have you seen the shit we've lived through?’” In September 2020, Ohanian filed paperwork for the first fund of his Florida-based venture firm, dubbed 776 after the year of the first Olympics in 776 B.C. The new firm was financed with $26 million from the Coinbase stock he received when the exchange went public, with another million dollars going to former NFL star Colin Kaepernick’s non-profit Know Your Rights Camp. Nearly half of 776’s portfolio is dedicated to blockchain startups focused on social networks where the value created accrues to its users in a variety of ways. On the most basic level, this includes NFTs that serve as membership cards valued and traded on the free market, giving access to online and real world events. Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2023/02/21/reddit-co-founders-quest-for-unseizable-property/?sh=61df0900795a 0:00 Crypto vs Gold - What's The Difference? 01:06 "I Walked Out Of The LSAT, True Story" 01:45 Web2 And Ohanian's Early Career Running Reddit 03:51 How Ohanian Teamed Up With Airbnb's Brian Armstrong To Break Into Crypto 5:45 "[Bitcoin] Technology Is A Medium, Like Paper, That Will Compound In Value" 07:54 Ohanian's Tips For Founders To Survive And Thrive During This Rocky Year In Tech 09:42 How Ohanian Finds Value During Crypto Winters 10:33 Ohanian On His Legacy In Tech 11:37 "The Rest Of My Life Will Be Spent On Deploying Capital" Subscribe to FORBES: null Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more: https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com/ Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes: http://forbes.com/ Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.